Starlight
by 782
Summary: In the third year of the Clone Wars, a Republic fleet, led by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, is accidentally sent into a galaxy of cruelty and horror beyond their worst nightmares. "Our only objective in this new galaxy is survival"—but can they manage even that? If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you…
1. Notes: Calculations

**Skip this chapter unless you're interested in the technical details (e.g. how strong is an Imperial star destroyer, compared to an _Emperor_-class battleship?).**

* * *

><p>I've had to calculate several things about the two universes, in the way in which they would interact.<p>

If you'd like to dispute the results of a calculation, then PM me—but _only_ if you've actually read the calculation.

If you're only interested in the results, look at "Results" (at the bottom). If you want to know how I worked out those results, read everything else.

In several cases, I've used the symbol ^. This means "to the power of", in case anybody is unfamiliar with it. e.g. 2^7 is two to the power of seven, i.e. 2×2×2×2×2×2×2 (seven twos multiplied by each other).

In case anybody is unfamiliar with the concept of negative powers, _x_^(–_y_) = 1 ÷ _x_^_y_, where _x_ and _y_ both represent any number.

In physics, the letter _c_ is used to represent the speed of light in a vacuum: 300,000,000m/s, or 300,000km/s.

On the matter of _Star Wars_ canon: there are only six things which are canon: the six _Star Wars_ films. Everything else is glorified fanfiction.

**Table of contents:**

1. How many inhabited planets are there in the _Star Wars_ galaxy?

2. The speed of different methods of faster-than-light travel:  
>(a) For the Imperium of Man, the Orks and the Forces of Chaos<br>(b) For all _Star Wars _factions

3. Are _Star Wars_ turbolasers and blasters made of matter, or of energy?

4. _Star Wars_ shielding:  
>(a) Can <em>Star Wars<em> shields block solid objects?  
>(b) Can <em>Star Wars <em>shields block teleportation?

5. _Star Wars_ fuels:  
>(a) How much energy can 1m³ of <em>Star Wars<em> capital ship fuel generate?  
>(b) How much energy does hyperdrive take up?<br>(c) What is the name of Fuel X?

6. _Star Wars_ spaceship strengths:  
>(a) How much energy can the fuel of an <em>Executor<em>-class battleship generate?  
>(b) How much energy can the fuel of a <em>Magnificence<em>-class battleship generate?  
>(c) How much energy can the fuel of a Trade Federation battleship generate?<br>(d) How much energy can the fuel of a _Glory_-class star destroyer generate?  
>(e) How much energy can the fuel of an Imperial star destroyer generate?<br>(f) How much energy can the fuel of a _Unifier_-class star destroyer generate?

7. Numbers of _Star Wars_ Republic forces:  
>(a) How many clone troopers are there in a <em>Glory<em>-class star destroyer?  
>(b) What is the total energy generation capacity of the Imperial Starfleet at the time of <em>A New Hope<em>?  
>(c) Was the Grand Army of the Republic the entire Republic armed forces, or was there also a Republic Starfleet?<br>(d) How many warships does the Republic Starfleet have at the end of the Clone Wars?

8. Size of warships:  
>(a) Palpatine and Vader's enormous flagship from <em>The Empire Strikes Back<em> and _Return of the Jedi_  
>(b) The mysterious ship seen at the Battle of Endor in <em>Return of the Jedi<br>_(c) Trade Federation battleship from the _Star Wars_ prequel trilogy  
>(d) The Galactic Republic's star destroyers from <em>Revenge of the Sith<em>  
>(e) The Galactic Empire's star destroyers from the <em>Star Wars <em>original trilogy  
>(f) The Galactic Republic's star destroyers from <em>Attack of the Clones<em>  
>(g) <em>Warhammer 40,000<em> Imperial Naval battleships  
>(h) All the various classes of <em>Warhammer 40,000<em> Imperial Naval escorts  
>(i) All the various classes of <em>Warhammer 40,000<em> Imperial Naval cruisers

9. Warship types:  
>(a) What types of warships are there in <em>Warhammer 40,000<em>?  
>(b) What is a star destroyer?<br>(c) What is a _Star Wars_ battleship?  
>(d) What is a 'super star destroyer'?<p>

10. Ship statistics for the Imperium:  
>(a) How much energy can 1m³ of <em>Warhammer 40,000<em> fuel generate?  
>(b) How much energy can all the various classes of Imperial Naval escorts generate?<br>(c) How much energy can all the various classes of Imperial Naval cruisers generate?

11. Numbers of _Warhammer 40,000_ Imperial forces:  
>(a) How many sectors are there in the Imperium?<br>(b) How many warships are there in the Imperial Navy?  
>(c) How many warships are there in the loyalist Space Marine chapter fleets?<p>

Results: speed, ship numbers and energy generation capacity.

* * *

><p><strong>1. How many inhabited planets are there in the <em>Star Wars<em> galaxy?**

I begin with the premise that the Galactic Empire and the pre-Clone Wars Galactic Republic controlled the entire _Star Wars_ galaxy. This is blindingly obvious due to their very names.

By the time of _Attack of the Clones_, "thousands" of Republic planets have joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and Dooku claims that another ten-thousand are expected to do so soon. Therefore, the galaxy contains at least 12,000 inhabited planets.

Judging by eye, the Galactic Senate has about one-thousand seats. We know that it can't be one seat per inhabited planet. So what does one senator represent? Our best clue is from _The Phantom Menace_, more specifically, the line:

SUPREME CHANCELLOR VALORUM: The chair recognises the Senator from the sovereign system of Naboo.

This line tells us that the Galactic Republic is _not_ a nation; it is a federalist network, encompassing sovereign nations, such as Naboo.

Clearly, each of the one-thousand seats in the Galactic Senate represents a sovereign member-nation of the Republic. Not all of them, obviously, are made up of just one inhabited planet; otherwise the galaxy would only contain one-thousand inhabited planets, and we know that it contains at least twelve-thousand.

The Trade Federation is an obvious example of a Republic member-nation which covers many planets. Ten-thousand Trade Federation battleships were seen blockading Naboo, each of them 38 times as powerful as an Imperial star destroyer (see Calculations 8(c) and (e) for evidence of this). If it can build the equivalent of 380,000 Imperial star destroyers (and it's unlikely that the Trade Federation would have sent its whole fleet to blockade an insignificant planet like Naboo, leaving itself unprotected), it _can't_ be limited to a single inhabited planet. The Trade Federation must possess hundreds or thousands of inhabited planets.

So we know that some Republic member-nations have far more territory than others do. In this sense, the Republic is similar to the United Nations. Compare Russia to Liechtenstein in size and influence, and you'll see my point.

But if we can figure out the number of inhabited planets in the galaxy, we can figure out the average number of inhabited planets per region.

We can put an upper limit on the galaxy's number of inhabited planets, judging by a statement in _Revenge of the Sith_:

OBI-WAN KENOBI: The Chancellor will not be able to control the thousands of star-systems without keeping the Senate intact.

Obviously, Obi-Wan isn't talking in the 2,000-9,000 range, since we know that the Republic has at least twelve-thousand inhabited star-systems. However, we also know that he isn't talking in the range of one-million or beyond, or he'd say "the million star-systems" or "the millions of star-systems", rather than "the thousands of star-systems". Therefore, 999,999 is a plausible upper limit on the galaxy's number of inhabited planets.

Next, we can put a lower limit on the galaxy's number of inhabited star-systems.

The Galactic Senate contains one senator for each region. There are at least 12,000 planets which sympathise with the Separatists. And yet, in _Attack of the Clones_, not a _single_ senator speaks out in favour of the Separatist cause—_not one_. If those 12,000 planets made up half of the Republic—even if they made up 10%—their Senators would _definitely_ speak out when the Senate was considering sending an army against them. I mean, if you formed a considerable portion of a democratic body that was considering sending an army against _you_, I think that you'd want to speak out, wouldn't you?

The _only_ plausible explanation for the Separatist Senators' failure to speak out is if they weren't there; such people are willing to speak out even when public opinion is clearly against them, such as in _The Phantom Menace_. Since the Senate's numbers don't appear to have noticeably decreased since _The Phantom Menace_, when there were no secessions, then the Senators of those twelve-thousand planets must be a _very_ small portion of the Senate: 2%, at most. If they were any more than that, we would have seen a significant change in the Senate's numbers. In fact, they're almost certainly less than 2%, but this is a lower limit.

Note: A potential object is that the Separatists might control most of the very large member-nations (like the Trade Federation), and very few of the small ones. However, it could also be the other way around. Indeed, the dominance of Trade Federation designs in the Separatist Droid Army and the Separatist fleet alike suggests that the Trade Federation _dominated_ the Confederacy of Independent Systems, in which case there can't have been lots of other, similarly large member-nations in the Confederacy.

Note: Another potential objection is that the Separatists couldn't have stood up to the Republic in the Clone Wars if they didn't have lots of planets. However, the Confederacy of Independent Systems was largely formed from wealthy companies like the Trade Federation. These companies would control the very richest and most industrial areas of the _Star Wars_ galaxy. Also, they started off with a vast fleet, while the Republic had to build its fleet from scratch, so they'd have time to seize plenty of planets to even the playing field while the Republic was struggling to build a fleet to stop them.

12,000 ÷ 2% = 600,000. Therefore, there are at least 600,000 inhabited planets in the galaxy.

So we have a lower limit (600,000) and an upper limit (999,999), but no way of telling which is correct. Let's go with the simple solution: average!

(600,000 + 999,999) ÷ 2 = 800,000 [calculated to one significant figure].

For a calculation as imprecise as this, it would be unjustifiable to go to more than one significant figure.

Therefore, the galaxy is composed of one-thousand member-nations, each of which contains an average of 800 inhabited planets.

* * *

><p><strong>2. The speed of different methods of faster-than-light travel:<strong>

**(a) For the Imperium of Man, the Orks and the Forces of Chaos**

_White Dwarf_ is kind enough to provide very clear data here. There are two tables: the amount of time that passes in the material world, and the amount of type that passes for the people on the ship itself. While the fact that there's a difference is interesting, it isn't very relevant strategically. What matters is simple: if a Warp-capable ship enters the Warp to travel to somewhere five- or ten- or twenty-thousand light-years away, how far in the future does it emerge?

The answer:

1 light-year: 43-270 minutes  
>5 light-years: 3.5-24 hours<br>10 light-years: 7-48 hours  
>50 light-years: 1.5-9 days<br>100 light-years: 3-21 days  
>500 light-years: 2-12 weeks<br>1,000 light-years: 1-6 months  
>5,000 light-years: 5-36 months<p>

Now I'm going to say the speeds that all these numbers mean, in multiples of _c_. So 2_c_ is twice the speed of light in a vacuum, 10_c_ is ten times the speed of light in a vacuum, et cetera.

(Note: I'm taking a month to mean exactly 365 ÷ 12, in order to be as accurate as possible.)

1 light-year: 12,000_c_ or 1,900_c_  
>5 light-years: 13,000<em>c<em> or 1,800_c_  
>10 light-years: 13,000<em>c<em> or 1,800_c_  
>50 light-years: 12,000<em>c<em> or 2,000_c_  
>100 light-years: 12,000<em>c<em> or 1,700_c_  
>500 light-years: 13,000<em>c<em> or 2,200_c_  
>1000 light-years: 12,000<em>c<em> or 2,000_c_  
>5000 light-years: 12,000<em>c<em> or 1,700_c_ [all calculated to two significant figures].

So that's pretty clear. If Warp conditions are as good as can be reasonably expected, the speed is 12,000_c_ to 13,000_c_. If Warp conditions are as bad as can be reasonably expected, the speed is only 1,700_c_ to 2,200_c_.

So how do we produce a single figure? Easy. Average it!

This gives us a final answer: an average of 7,100 times the speed of light in a vacuum.

**(b) For all _Star Wars_ factions**

Hyperdrive—travel through hyperspace—is the method of faster-than-light travel that is used by all _Star Wars_ factions. I'm now going to make a conservative estimate of its speed: an estimate which gives as low a speed as possible.

In real life, we know that the radius of the Milky Way is about 60,000 light-years. We have no idea how big the _Star Wars_ galaxy is, except that it's big enough to have two satellite galaxies (as we see in the Jedi Archives' galactic map in _Attack of the Clones_).

But that gives us a clue as to its size: it's only big enough to have two satellite galaxies, no more. The Milky Way has _loads_ of satellite galaxies. From the little evidence available to us, it seems that the _Star Wars_ galaxy might be smaller than the Milky Way.

Given that I'm making a conservative calculation of hyperdrive's speed, I'll assume that the _Star Wars_ galaxy's radius is only 20,000 light-years.

In _Attack of the Clones_, Kamino is in one of these satellite galaxies, and judging by eye from the Jedi Archives scene, it's about 40,000 light-years away from the centre of the _Star Wars_ galaxy. The whole _Star Wars_ prequel trilogy often tells us that Coruscant is at the centre of the galaxy. Therefore we know that there are 40,000 light-years between Kamino and Coruscant. In _Attack of the Clones_, Obi-Wan crosses this distance in his fighter.

Judging by the sheer size of the fighter, it had nowhere to store food: it was tiny. Therefore we know that the trip lasted no more than 24 hours, unless Obi-Wan was willing to go without food for a whole day; he can't have picked up new supplies on his secret mission. Even this presumes that he spent large amounts of the trip sleeping in hyperspace—in fact, the trip might have taken just a few hours. But I'll assume that it took 24 hours, for the sake of being conservative.

If you travel forty-thousand light-years in one year, you're travelling at 40,000_c_. If you travel it in 1 day—365 times less time—then you're travelling precisely 365 times faster than that. 40,000_c_ × 365 = 15,000,000_c_ [calculated to two significant figures].

So hyperdrive goes at 15 million times the speed of light.

Some people might object to this, on the grounds that Obi-Wan's fighter would be an unusually fast ship. However, there are plenty of other examples of hyperdrive moving at this kind of speed: for instance, the _Millennium Falcon_ going from Tatooine to Alderaan in _A New Hope_, or Padmé's ship going from Tatooine to Coruscant in _The Phantom Menace_, or Luke's X-Wing going from Dagobah to Bespin in _The Empire Strikes Back_. But the distance between Kamino and Coruscant is clearly defined, so I've chosen that.

* * *

><p><strong>3. Are <em>Star Wars<em> turbolasers and blasters made of matter, or of energy?**

Regardless of their name, I can prove, in three different ways, that turbolasers and blasters are _not_ made of energy—in which case they are almost certainly made of matter.

1. If turbolasers and blasters were actually lasers (i.e. made of pure energy), they would travel at the speed of light. The movies show us that they don't move at anywhere near the speed of light. You can actually see them moving: people can even dodge them. They're far, far, far slower than light. Therefore they aren't light.

2. Turbolasers and blasters emit a visible glow as they travel. Light does not glow. Are there big glowy yellow lines coming from the sun? No. Radiation doesn't glow; it only produces colour if it hits an object and is reflected back into your eyes at the right frequency. If anybody's ever seen a basic laser pointer, they'll know that a laser does _not_ produce a streak of glowing stuff: it produces a bit of light at the destination. There is, however, an explanation for the streak-of-glowing-stuff phenomenon: actual matter which is glowing. Light itself doesn't emit extra light outwards, but matter can.

3. Turbolaser cannons have holes at the ends of them, not lenses. Therefore matter is physically leaving the cannon, not a laser beam.

* * *

><p><strong>4. <em>Star Wars<em> shielding:**

**(a) Can _Star Wars_ shields block solid objects?**

The answer is: Sometimes. Some _Star Wars_ shields do block solid objects (e.g. the second Death Star's deflector-shield), others don't (e.g. the Gungan energy field).

This is my explanation:

In the _Star Wars_ galaxy, there seem to be three types of shields.

**1)** Energy fields. These are seen in _The Phantom Menace_, _A New Hope_ and _The Empire Strikes Back_. The Gungan shield in _The Phantom Menace_ let battle droids on foot get through, but blocked hovering vehicles and all weapons fire. The shield of the first Death Star in _A New Hope _let Rebel fighters get through if they slowed down to match speeds with it; then, once they were through, they accelerated again. In _The Empire Strikes Back_, the Rebels have an "energy field" (also described as an "energy shield") which is so powerful that it can block the turbolaser fire of five Imperial star destroyers and an _Executor_-class battleship (for the name of that ship class, please see Calculation 9(c)), and which also prevented the Empire from using any machines, such as aircraft, that didn't touch the ground: hence, the usage of heavy walkers at the Battle of Hoth. In _The Empire Strikes Back_, the Imperial star destroyer _Avenger_ has a shield that blocks turbolaser fire and immediately vaporises any fast-moving solid asteroids that hit it, but somehow allows the equally solid _Millennium Falcon_ through (presumably when the _Falcon_ moves slowly).

It's clear that energy fields block fast-moving objects (such as turbolasers and proton torpedoes) and, when on a planet, any objects that don't touch the ground, but allow slow-moving objects through.

Also, it is impossible for a ship to fire through her own energy field. When the star destroyer _Avenger_ fired at _Millennium Falcon_, _Avenger_'s turbolaser bolts were blocked by her own energy fields.

**2)** Deflector-shields. These are seen once in _Revenge of the Sith_ and twice in _Return of the Jedi_. In _Revenge of the Sith_, General Grievous's flagship has a shield which Obi-Wan implies that fighters _cannot_ get through (when he and Anakin are approaching in their fighters, he says "Have you noticed the shields are still up?" in a panicked tone), and Anakin responds by using one of his blaster-cannons to blow up a globe that is clearly outside the shield; the shield immediately falls and then the fighters get through. In _Return of the Jedi_, fast-moving fighters are vaporised as soon as they hit _Executor_'s shields (before those shields fall), but _Executor_'s "bridge deflector-shield" is destroyed as soon as a Rebel fighter blows up an unshielded globe. Finally, in _Return of the Jedi_, the second Death Star's shield (described as a "deflector-shield" or "energy shield" at different times in the movie) needs to be "deactivated" for shuttles to get through (the shuttle can't just slow down, the shield must be deactivated), and is projected from the shield generator on Endor.

It should be blindingly obvious that each of these shields is projected by a shield generator which, crucially, has to be _outside_ the shield that it's generating. It's also clear that these shields do _not_ allow anything from outside to get through, as energy fields do.

Since the second Death Star could fire through its own deflector-shield without any problems, even though the Rebels couldn't fire through that same shield, this proves that

(a) it is possible to open holes in your own deflector-shield, or

(b) a deflector-shield only blocks things going from outside to inside.

The fact that the entire deflector-shield of the second Death Star had to be deactivated for any shuttle from outside to get through proves that (a) is false, so (b) must be true.

**3)** Ray-shields. These are seen in _Attack of the Clones_, _Revenge of the Sith_ and _A New Hope_. In _Revenge of the Sith_, they prevent Anakin and Obi-Wan from getting out of them; something very similar is used by Dooku against Obi-Wan in _Attack of the Clones_, with identical effects, so it's almost certainly the same technology. In _A New Hope_, they're used for the first Death Star's thermal exhaust port (though not for the first Death Star itself), and they famously turn out to be proton torpedo-permeable. The only sensible reason why anyone would bother to use ray-shields for a spaceship is that they're cheap; they're far inferior to deflector-shields or energy fields.

This three-part explanation explains every shielding phenomenon in _Star Wars_ that I know of.

Note: I've heard it claimed that _Star Wars_ ships can't block solid objects because the star destroyers were worried about entering the asteroid field in _The Empire Strikes Back_. However, some asteroids are many kilometres across, and there were lots and lots of asteroids there: the asteroid field in _The Empire Strikes Back_ was far, far denser than any known asteroid field in real life. Asteroids move surprisingly fast, too, as anyone who's ever studied asteroids in real life can attest. Just because _Star Wars_ shields can't block very large numbers of such massive objects moving at very high speed doesn't mean that they can't block _any_ solid objects _at all_: that's like saying that a truck can't carry anything because it can't pick up the Eiffel Tower.

**(b) Can _Star Wars_ shields block Warp-based teleportation?**

Void Shields can block Warp-based teleportation (and they _definitely_ can; even the God-Emperor of Mankind himself was physically unable to teleport onto the _Vengeful Spirit_ until she lowered her Void Shields). But that is only because Void Shields work by producing a disturbance in the Warp.

The people of the _Star Wars_ galaxy don't even know that the Warp exists. It is _highly_ unlikely that any of their technology produces disturbances in the Warp.

So, in conclusion:

Definitely not.

* * *

><p><strong>5. <em>Star Wars<em> fuels:**

**(a) How much energy can 1m³ of _Star Wars_ capital ship fuel generate?**

Since I don't want to have to say "_Star Wars _capital ship fuel" every time, I'll call it Fuel X until I've given it a name.

Let's take a look at the destruction of Alderaan by the first Death Star, in _A New Hope_.

Having measured the speed of the explosion in _A New Hope_, Dr Curtis Saxton, the physicist who wrote the _Star Wars_ Technical Commentaries website, comes to the conclusion that the destruction of Alderaan took 10^38 joules (or thereabouts). To find his articles on this subject, please se _dot_ theforce _dot_ net / swtc / ds / (remove spaces).

Saxton also calculates, by a variety of means, that the first Death Star is about 160km in diameter, and that the second Death Star is about 900km in diameter.

Note: 10^38 joules is far, far greater than the energy necessary to destroy a planet, but that's perfectly explainable. In _A New Hope_, we saw that Alderaan had a planetary shield which actually _blocked_ the Death Star's bolt for about a tenth of a second—and that was a supposedly defenceless planet. An incredibly heavily-defended planet, such as Coruscant, would probably be able to do much better—perhaps even to block the bolt completely.

Sheer logic dictates that the Death Star's reactor must be located within its massive bulk: its diameter is 160km, so its radius is 80km. The firing dish isn't that big: all that space must be used for something.

Note: An alternate hypothesis suggests that the Death Star was somehow teleporting fuel from a black hole or a star, but there's absolutely no evidence that teleportation technology even _exists_ in the _Star Wars_ galaxy, so this hypothesis fails the test of Occam's Razor. I don't know how Fuel X works (I daresay George Lucas doesn't, either) but for the purposes of this calculation, all I need to know is that it _does_ work.

In order to make a conservative estimate of Fuel X's energy generation capacity, I'm assuming that the first Death Star's whole interior volume was made of Fuel X, and that Grand Moff Tarkin was reckless enough to spend literally _all_ of the first Death Star's fuel on the destruction of Alderaan in order to test the power of the Death Star.

The volume of the first Death Star can be worked out with the equation for the volume of a sphere: _V_ = 4π_r_³ ÷ 3. In case anybody is unaware, π is about 3.14.

Here, the radius (_r_) is 80,000 (measured in metres), so, to find the volume (measured in cubic metres), I calculate: _V_ = 4 × π × 80,000³ ÷ 3 = 2.1 × 10^15 [calculated to two significant figures]

10^38 ÷ _V_ = 4.7 × 10^22 [calculated to two significant figures].

Therefore, each cubic metre of Fuel X generates 4.7 × 10^22 joules.

Note: I've heard the objection that efficiency would make Fuel X less powerful than this, but it's incorrect. Whether Fuel X operates at 0.0001% efficiency or 99.9999% (100% efficiency is physically impossible), this is the amount of energy that _Star Wars_ technology can actually get out of Fuel X. If anything, it's likely that the first Death Star—which we already know was badly designed—is _less_ efficient than most ships, so most ships would generate _more_ than 4.7 × 10^22 joules per cubic metre.

**(b) How much energy does hyperdrive take up?**

We know that Fuel X generates 4.7 × 10^22 joules per cubic metre.

Luke's X-Wing has, at most, 5m × 5m × 5m for its reactor and fuel storage: 125m³. It's probably smaller: more like 2m × 2m × 2m: 8m³. Thus, it should be able to generate at least 1.92 × 10^23 joules of energy. Even if the X-Wing can fire a million shots before running out of fuel (_highly_ unlikely), that would put its energy generation capacity at 1.92 × 10^17.

In _A New Hope_, Luke's X-Wing fires its laser-cannons at the surface of the first Death Star, vaporising at least 1m³ of material with a single shot: probably more than that. If this material was iron, that would take 6 × 10^10 joules. Even if the Death Star was made out of something 1,000 times as difficult to vaporise as iron, that would take 6 × 10^13 joules.

So the X-Wing isn't as powerful as a theoretical capital ship of the same size—it isn't even close. This is unsurprising, since a Fuel X reactor is probably extremely complicated, and can't be duplicated on something as small as a fighter. Hell, it would be difficult to duplicate a _nuclear_ reactor on a fighter, let alone something as complex and ultra-energetic as Fuel X.

Yet an X-Wing, which is over a thousand times weaker than it would be if it was powered by Fuel X instead of whatever it really uses, can power hyperdrive with no difficulties—see how easy it is for Luke to fly around the galaxy, never worrying that he needs to refuel.

Even more tellingly, X-Wings are fighters—every scrap of power is vital, and they're carried by capital ships, so there's no real need for them to use hyperdrive. Yet they do anyway. This shows that hyperdrive's energy requirements aren't just tiny for a Fuel X-powered capital ship, they're tiny for a _fighter_.

Therefore, on a warship captain's list of things that could go wrong, "What if hyperdrive takes up too much of our fuel?" would be next to "What if fairies come in and steal all the chocolate?"

Perhaps hyperdrive takes up enormous quantities of some kind of special technobabble device, but it doesn't take up much actual energy.

**(c) What is the name of Fuel X?**

The X-Wing does, however, have some weapons on the same scale as Fuel X: proton torpedoes. If they're similar in energy to Jango Fett's seismic charges from _Attack of the Clones_ (since they're from several decades later, they're likely to be _at least_ as powerful) they're in the range of gigatons—4.184 × 10^18 to 4.184 × 10^21 joules.

That's approximately the energy generation capacity that an X-Wing would have if it was powered by Fuel X.

Proton torpedoes must have some sort of super-high-tech energy source to generate that kind of amount of energy. They're called 'proton torpedoes', so I suggest that they contain 'proton fuel'.

So Death Stars and _Star Wars_ capital ships run on proton fuel. I don't know how it works, of course, but for the purposes of this calculation I don't need to.

* * *

><p><strong>6. <strong>**_Star Wars_**** spaceship strengths:**

**(a) How much energy can the fuel of an **_**Executor**_**-class battleship generate?**

Palpatine and Vader's enormous flagship from _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_ doesn't have a canonical name, but I'm keeping the SWEU's name for that ship, _Executor_, for two reasons: first, that the word _Executor _does sound like something that the Empire would call a ship, and secondly, I just like the word.

For the reason why I think that _Executor_ is called an _Executor_-class battleship, please see Calculation 9(c).

For proof that the total volume of an _Executor_-class battleship is 54,000,000,000m³, please see Calculation 8(a).

Note: For those who object to this method on grounds that efficiency would change things, please see my note at the end of Calculation 5(a).

In real life, a warship's armour and internal walls and suchlike take up about 5% of the ship's volume. I'll go with this for my calculations.

I'm also assuming that a full 20% of an _Executor_-class ship's volume is taken up by the spaces for crewmen, fighters and other operators. This is probably an overestimate, but that's acceptable, because I am trying to make a conservative estimate of an _Executor_-class ship's fuel capacity.

The presence of General Veers indicates that there were troops aboard _Executor_, even though she is a battleship rather than a troopship. Though odd, this can be explained by the idea that _Executor_ is so much larger than any other battleship that she can actually _afford_ to use some of her internal volume for secondary functions, serving as a troopship too.

Since I'm going for a conservative estimate of an _Executor_-class battleship's fuel capacity, I should go for a generous estimate of the amount of volume that she dedicates to troops. Therefore, I'll assume that 25% of her volume goes for troops.

That leaves 50% of the ship's bulk for reactors and fuel storage.

Note: Of course, it goes without saying that there wouldn't just be one massive reactor supplying the whole ship—if the designers had a grain of sense, there'd be lots of different reactors. But the total volume of all those reactors and their fuel storage, I estimate, is 50% of the ship's volume.

If 20% of that, in turn, is taken up by internal walls and equipment of sorts, that would leave 40% of the ship's volume as pure proton fuel.

Note: Some people argue that fighters would take up a significant portion of the ship's mass, but that's just stupid. Even if we made the ridiculously over-generous assumptions that TIE fighters are 15m×15m×15m in dimension and that 10,000 TIEs came from _Executor_, then, if we make the reasonable assumption that a TIE takes up ten times its volume in order to be accessed by its pilot and to comfortably get out of its mother-ship without bumping into other TIEs, TIEs would take up a total of 340,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]: less than 1% of _Executor_'s volume, and therefore a proportion that can be ignored.

So she can generate 4.7 × 10^22 × 54,000,000,000 × 40% = 1.0 × 10^33 joules [calculated to two significant figures].

An exaton of energy is equivalent to 4.184 × 10^27 joules of energy.

Therefore, an _Executor_-class battleship, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 240,000 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

**(b) How much energy can the fuel of a _Magnificence_-class battleship generate?**

For the reason why I think that this ship is called a _Magnificence_-class battleship, please see Calculation 7(d).

For proof that the total volume of a _Magnificence_-class battleship is 3,100,000,000m³, please see Calculation 8(b).

Note: For those who object to this method on grounds that efficiency would change things, please see my note at the end of Calculation 5(a).

In real life, a warship's armour and internal walls and suchlike take up about 5% of the ship's volume. I'll go with this for my calculations.

I'm also assuming that a full 20% of a _Magnificence_-class ship's volume is taken up by the spaces for crewmen, fighters and other operators. This is probably an overestimate, but that's acceptable, because I am trying to make a conservative estimate of a _Magnificence_-class ship's fuel capacity.

There is no reason to believe that there are any troops aboard a _Magnificence_-class ship, and active reason to believe that there aren't, since she's a warship and she should be trying to conserve space for firepower.

That leaves 75% of the ship's bulk for reactors and fuel storage.

If 20% of that, in turn, is taken up by internal walls and equipment of sorts, that would leave 60% of the ship's volume as pure proton fuel.

Note: Some people argue that fighters would take up a significant portion of the ship's mass, but that's just stupid. Please see my note on this in Calculation 6(a).

So she can generate 4.7 × 10^22 × 3,100,000,000 × 60% = 8.6 × 10^31 joules [calculated to two significant figures].

An exaton of energy is equivalent to 4.184 × 10^27 joules of energy.

Therefore, a _Magnificence_-class battleship, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 21,000 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

**(c) How much energy can the fuel of a Trade Federation battleship generate?**

For proof that the total volume of a Trade Federation battleship is 2,500,000,000m³, please see Calculation 8(c).

Note: For those who object to this method on grounds that efficiency would change things, please see my note at the end of Calculation 5(a).

In real life, a warship's armour and internal walls and suchlike take up about 5% of the ship's volume. I'll go with this for my calculations.

I'm also assuming that a full 20% of a Trade Federation battleship's volume is taken up by the spaces for crewmen, fighters and other operators. This is probably an overestimate, but that's acceptable, because I am trying to make a conservative estimate of a Trade Federation battleship's fuel capacity.

There is no reason to believe that there are any troops aboard a Trade Federation battleship, and active reason to believe that there aren't, since she's a warship and she should be trying to conserve space for firepower.

That leaves 75% of the ship's bulk for reactors and fuel storage.

If 20% of that, in turn, is taken up by internal walls and equipment of sorts, that would leave 60% of the ship's volume as pure proton fuel.

Note: Some people argue that fighters would take up a significant portion of the ship's mass, but that's just stupid. Please see my note on this in Calculation 6(a).

So she can generate 4.7 × 10^22 × 2,500,000,000 × 60% = 7.0 × 10^31 joules [calculated to two significant figures].

An exaton of energy is equivalent to 4.184 × 10^27 joules of energy.

Therefore, a Trade Federation battleship, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 17,000 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

**(d) How much energy can the fuel of a _Glory_-class star destroyer generate?**

To make it clear, I'm referring to the star destroyer that we saw the Galactic Republic using in _Revenge of the Sith_. This ship class has no canonical name, so I've made up the name '_Glory_-class star destroyer' for it. (The SWEU calls it a _Venator_-class star destroyer, but the _Star Wars_ galaxy doesn't speak Latin or anything analogous to it like High Gothic, so that's stupid.)

I'm _not_ referring to the 750m-long ship class from _Attack of the Clones_, which is clearly a completely different class.

For proof that the total volume of a _Glory_-class star destroyer is 33,000,000m³, please see Calculation 8(d).

Note: For those who object to this method on grounds that efficiency would change things, please see my note at the end of Calculation 5(a).

In real life, a warship's armour and internal walls and suchlike take up about 5% of the ship's volume. I'll go with this for my calculations.

I'm also assuming that a full 20% of a _Glory_-class ship's volume is taken up by the spaces for crewmen, fighters and other operators. This is probably an overestimate, but that's acceptable, because I am trying to make a conservative estimate of a _Glory_-class ship's fuel capacity.

We know that there are troops aboard _Glory_-class ships, since we see them several times in _Revenge of the Sith_. This tells us that star destroyers are actually destroyers cum troopships—which isn't surprising, since a star destroyer under the personal command of Darth Vader dispatched Imperial stormtroopers to the surface of Tatooine in _A New Hope_.

Since I'm going for a conservative estimate of a _Glory_-class star destroyer's fuel capacity, I should go for a generous estimate of the amount of volume that she dedicates to troops. Therefore, I'll assume that 25% of her volume goes for troops.

That leaves 50% of the ship's bulk for reactors and fuel storage.

If 20% of that, in turn, is taken up by internal walls and equipment of sorts, that would leave 40% of the ship's volume as pure proton fuel.

Note: Some people argue that fighters would take up a significant portion of the ship's mass, but that's just stupid. Please see my note on this in Calculation 6(a).

So she can generate 4.7 × 10^22 × 33,000,000 × 40% = 6.2 × 10^29 joules [calculated to two significant figures].

An exaton of energy is equivalent to 4.184 × 10^27 joules of energy.

Therefore, a _Glory_-class star destroyer, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 150 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

**(e) How much energy can the fuel of an ****Imperial**** star destroyer generate?**

There are two different classes of ordinary Imperial star destroyer—the one we saw throughout the whole _Star Wars_ original trilogy, and the one we saw in _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_ but not in _A New Hope_. Fortunately, they're the same size, have the same role and are from the same civilisation, so they're probably roughly equivalent in energy generation capacity.

For proof that the total volume of an Imperial star destroyer is 100,000,000m³, please see Calculation 8(e).

Note: For those who object to this method on grounds that efficiency would change things, please see my note at the end of Calculation 5(a).

In real life, a warship's armour and internal walls and suchlike take up about 5% of the ship's volume. I'll go with this for my calculations.

I'm also assuming that a full 20% of an Imperial star destroyer's volume is taken up by the spaces for crewmen, fighters and other operators. This is probably an overestimate, but that's acceptable, because I am trying to make a conservative estimate of a _Glory_-class ship's fuel capacity.

We know that there are troops aboard Imperial star destroyers, since star destroyers are both destroyers and troopships—please see Calculation 6(d).

Since I'm going for a conservative estimate of an _Imperial_ star destroyer's fuel capacity, I should go for a generous estimate of the amount of volume that she dedicates to troops. Therefore, I'll assume that 25% of her volume goes for troops.

That leaves 50% of the ship's bulk for reactors and fuel storage.

If 20% of that, in turn, is taken up by internal walls and equipment of sorts, that would leave 40% of the ship's volume as pure proton fuel.

Note: Some people argue that fighters would take up a significant portion of the ship's mass, but that's just stupid. Please see my note on this in Calculation 6(a).

So she can generate 4.7 × 10^22 × 100,000,000 × 40% = 1.9 × 10^30 joules [calculated to two significant figures].

An exaton of energy is equivalent to 4.184 × 10^27 joules of energy.

Therefore, an Imperial star destroyer, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 460 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

**(f) How much energy can the fuel of a **_**Unifier**_**-class star destroyer generate?**

To make it clear, I'm referring to the star destroyer that we saw the Galactic Republic using in _Attack of the Clones_. This ship class has no canonical name, so I've made up the name '_Unifier_-class star destroyer' for it. (The SWEU calls it an _Acclamator_-class assault ship, but the _Star Wars_ galaxy doesn't speak Latin or anything analogous to it like High Gothic, so that's stupid.)

I'm _not_ referring to the 1,100m-long ship class from _Revenge of the Sith_, which is clearly a completely different class.

For proof that the total volume of a _Unifier_-class star destroyer is 11,000,000m³, please see Calculation 8(f).

Note: For those who object to this method on grounds that efficiency would change things, please see my note at the end of Calculation 5(a).

In real life, a warship's armour and internal walls and suchlike take up about 5% of the ship's volume. I'll go with this for my calculations.

I'm also assuming that a full 20% of a _Unifier_-class ship's volume is taken up by the spaces for crewmen, fighters and other operators. This is probably an overestimate, but that's acceptable, because I am trying to make a conservative estimate of a _Unifier_-class ship's fuel capacity.

We know that there are troops aboard _Unifier_-class ships, since star destroyers are both destroyers and troopships—please see Calculation 6(d).

Since I'm going for a conservative estimate of a __Unifier___-class_ star destroyer's fuel capacity, I should go for a generous estimate of the amount of volume that she dedicates to troops. Therefore, I'll assume that 25% of her volume goes for troops.

That leaves 50% of the ship's bulk for reactors and fuel storage.

If 20% of that, in turn, is taken up by internal walls and equipment of sorts, that would leave 40% of the ship's volume as pure proton fuel.

Note: Some people argue that fighters would take up a significant portion of the ship's mass, but that's just stupid. Please see my note on this in Calculation 6(a).

So she can generate 4.7 × 10^22 × 11,000,000 × 40% = 2.0 × 10^29 joules [calculated to two significant figures].

An exaton of energy is equivalent to 4.184 × 10^27 joules of energy.

Therefore, a _Unifier_-class star destroyer, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 47 exatons of energy.

* * *

><p><strong>7. Numbers of <em>Star Wars<em> Republic forces:**

**(a) How many clone troopers are there in a _Glory_-class star destroyer?**

For proof that the total volume of a _Glory_-class star destroyer is 33,000,000m³, please see Calculation 8(d).

I've already estimated in Calculation 6(d) that 25% of her volume goes to troops. This leaves the volume to troops at 8,300,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

Now, let's look at a real, oceanic warship: HMS _Dreadnought_ (yes, I'm British, sue me). I'll work out _Dreadnought_'s volume in cubic metres, and then divide it by her complement to find the amount of space which one person needs (in cubic metres). Then I'll divide 8,300,000m³ by that number, to find the number of people who can fit in the troops areas of a _Glory_-class star destroyer.

I'm making a conservative assumption of the number of people aboard a _Glory_-class ship. Therefore, I want to make a generous estimate of the size of HMS _Dreadnought_. I already know _Dreadnought_'s complement (700 to 810: I'll assume 700 people, since I'm being conservative here). The larger _Dreadnought_, the larger the amount of space it takes to hold 700 people, the larger the amount of space it takes to hold one person, the fewer clone troopers a _Glory_-class ship's troops areas can hold.

HMS _Dreadnought_ was 160.6m long. She was 25m wide at her widest point, and equally wide for most of her length: not all of it, but then again, I _am_ making a conservative assumption. Her hull extended 9m below sea level, and about the same distance above sea level: 18m in all. Therefore, her total volume was 160.6m × 25m × 9m = 36,135m³.

36,135m³ ÷ 700 = 52m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

8,300,000m³ ÷ 52m³ = 160,000 clone troopers [calculated to two significant figures].

Now let's look at the _Star Wars_ Expanded Universe's suggestion for the number of men in a _Glory_-class star destroyer.

According to the SWEU, there are 9,400 people (2,000 troops and 7,400 crewmen) in a _Glory_-class ship. If so, in order to see how much volume there is per person, we divide 8,300,000 by 9,400. Our result is 880m³ per person [calculated to two significant figures].

If the SWEU's figure is right, Palpatine is an _incredibly_ generous man, since he gives each of his minions—_every single one_—an on-board living space as big as a respectable two-storey house. Looking at the _Star Wars_ films, tell me honestly: does Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, strike you as that type of guy?

**(b) What is the total energy generation capacity of the Imperial Starfleet at the time of **_A New Hope_**?**

In _A New Hope_, General Dodonna of the Rebel Alliance—who, given his position, should certainly know—said of the first Death Star that "that thing" had more firepower than half the Imperial Starfleet. In order to make a conservative estimate of the energy generation capacity of the Imperial Starfleet, I'll assume that he meant only one Death Star bolt, not the entire fuel stores of the first Death Star.

Note: Given the context, I'm taking the word 'firepower' to mean energy generation capacity, not power (the rate of energy output), because it is Dodonna who is speaking, on Yavin. To Dodonna, it doesn't matter whether the first Death Star can fire once per second or once per day: either way, it can still destroy both Yavin and the Rebel Alliance, and _that _is the crucial point to make.

Therefore, the Imperial Starfleet's total energy generation capacity is at least 10^38 joules, since it took that much energy to destroy Alderaan: probably greater, since Dodonna did say "more firepower than _half_ the Imperial Starfleet" (italics are my own), not "as much firepower as the _entire_ Imperial Starfleet".

Even if Dodonna was wrong, the first Death Star can't be _much_ more powerful than the Imperial Starfleet. That would be blatantly unrealistic, since the second Death Star was over a hundred times the size of the first Death Star, so if it was true the Empire would have to maintain a _ludicrously_ small military.

**(c) Was the Grand Army of the Republic the entire Republic armed forces, or was there also a Republic Starfleet?**

At the end of _Revenge of the Sith_, we saw officers of the newly formed Imperial Starfleet: non-clone, non-Jedi officers. The Grand Army of the Republic was made up completely out of clones and Jedi. This proves the existence of the Republic Starfleet as a separate unit from the Grand Army, unless one believes that the Galactic Empire suddenly took in lots of new, untrained officers in the few hours/days between the foundation of the Empire and the scene with the Imperial Starfleet officers.

Also, Bail Organa served in the Republic armed forces (as we know from Princess Leia Organa in _A New Hope_), but he is neither a Jedi nor a clone, so he can't have served in the Grand Army.

This means that the Galactic Republic did have a starfleet before the Clone Wars; it was an army that it lacked.

This makes sense, since, while it is one thing to hide the mass cloning of trillions of soldiers (as we already know that the Kaminoans did successfully), it's quite another to hide the massive resources that would be going into constructing a large starfleet, especially when the powers that would later form the Confederacy of Independent Systems would be watching carefully for such a thing. Therefore the Republic Starfleet probably existed before the existence of the Grand Army was revealed to the _Star Wars_ galaxy.

Note: I call it the Republic Starfleet because its successor was known as the Imperial Starfleet (_not_ the Imperial Navy, despite what lots of SWEU-loving morons would claim), so it's likely that it's called something very similar.

**(d) How many warships does the Republic Starfleet have at the end of the Clone Wars?**

In _Attack of the Clones_, the Republic Starfleet's best ships—the ones it sent into an active warzone to retrieve 200 of the galaxy's thousands of Jedi and to capture the Separatist leadership, ending the Clone Wars before they began—were 750m-long star destroyers, which I'll arbitrarily call _Unifier_-class star destroyers. (The SWEU calls them _Acclamator_-class assault ships, but the _Star Wars_ galaxy doesn't speak Latin or anything analogous to it like High Gothic, so that's stupid.)

Yet, during the Battle of Coruscant in _Revenge of the Sith_ four years later, there wasn't a single _Unifier_-class star destroyers in sight. Every Republic star destroyer—every single one—was a _Glory_-class ship. We saw hundreds of _Glory_-class star destroyers, and not a single other star destroyer.

Thus we know that almost all, and maybe all, of the Republic Starfleet's star destroyers were of the _Glory_ class rather than the _Unifier_ class during the last year of the Clone Wars.

The Republic Starfleet must have had _some_ battleships, and they would have wanted their battleships to be slightly more powerful than Trade Federation battleships. The mysterious 5,900m-long ship class fits this description to a T, so I think that it might have been made by the Republic, in which case the class would have a Republic-style name such as '_Magnificence_-class battleship', rather than an Imperial-style name such as '_Annihilator_-class battleship'.

Note: For why I think that the mysterious 5,900m-long ship is a battleship, please see Calculation 9(c).

Judging by the construction rate of the second Death Star, we can figure out the size of the Republic Starfleet.

The second Death Star was at least 20% constructed (I'll assume 20%, in order to be conservative—it could be as much as 80%) between the end of _A New Hope_ and the events of _Return of the Jedi_. 20% of it would be able to generate 3.6 × 10^39 joules: in other words, 850,000,000,000 exatons [calculated to two significant figures].

A group of (star) destroyers alone is called a flotilla. A group containing one battleship and several (star) destroyers escorting her is called a battlegroup.

At the Battle of Endor, Palpatine and Vader's enormous flagship (for why I think this is a battleship, please see Calculation 9(c)) was escorted by five star destroyers, and, later, a _Magnificence_-class battleship turned up with twenty-seven other star destroyers. If the _Magnificence_-class ship, like Palpatine and Vader's flagship, was escorted by five star destroyers, then there were 22 star destroyers in a flotilla, and two battlegroups, each containing a battleship and five star destroyers escorting her.

Occam's Razor says that, lacking any evidence to the contrary, we should assume that the make-up of the fleet at Endor—a battlegroup of five star destroyers and one battleship, another such battlegroup, and a flotilla of 22 star destroyers—is fairly typical.

So the Republic Starfleet is split into units of unknown name—henceforth titled Unit Xs—, each containing two battlegroups and a flotilla.

Each Unit X contained 46,800 exatons of energy generation capacity: two _Magnificence_-class battleships, representing 42,000 exatons between them both, and 32 _Glory_-class star destroyers, representing 4,800 exatons between them all.

850,000,000,000 ÷ 46,800 = 18,000,000 [calculated to two significant figures]. So, instead of 20% of the second Death Star, the Empire could have built 18 million Unit Xs (albeit with perhaps-old-fashioned Republic-era starships): in other words, 36 million _Magnificence_-class battleships and 576 million _Glory_-class star destroyers—though it might not have been able to provide crews for them.

But the Clone Wars lasted four years. How long did it take to build 20% of the second Death Star?

Between the end of _A New Hope_ and the beginning of _The Empire Strikes Back_, anything between one year and five years might have taken place, judging by Luke having risen to the rank of "commander" (he is addressed as "Commander Skywalker") and none of the main characters appearing much older. As a middling estimate, I'll assume three years.

Luke must have spent at least three years on Dagobah, since the _Millennium Falcon _travelled slower-than-light from the Anoat system to the Bespin system, which are at least three systems—and thus at least three light-years, if those systems were ridiculously close together—away. More likely, since it takes time to accelerate to nearly the speed of light and then to decelerate from there, he spent at least four years there. (Of course, Han, Chewbacca and Leia would experience much less time, due to the effects of travelling at relativistic speeds, but at least four years would pass in the outside galaxy.)

If Anoat and Bespin were further apart, they might have been as much as twelve light-years away, turning the _Millennium Falcon_'s travel time to thirteen years.

However, judging by how little Luke and Lando have aged by the latter stage of _The Empire Strikes Back_, then, unless Lando was swindled by and knew Han when he was a teenager, they can't have spent more than eight years. In fact, Luke appears to have aged so little that I think that it would take as short a time as I can conceivably imagine it taking: that is to say, four years.

Then, at least a year, during which Luke must have trained himself (probably with the help of Obi-Wan's ghost), must have taken place, in order to account for Luke's otherwise inexplicable increase in skill—he can't have got that much better without any tuition. More likely, he spent two or three years doing this: let's say, two.

So six years took place between the end of _A New Hope_ and the events of _Return of the Jedi_.

So the galaxy could build 12 million Unit Xs—24 million battleships, and 384 million star destroyers—in four years.

But the Republic only held about half of the _Star Wars_ galaxy's industrial capacity (albeit probably more than half the galaxy, since the Separatists had disproportionately large industrial capacity, due to being centres of business) during the Clone Wars, and the Republic Starfleet would suffer casualties during the wars. We must also remember that it would take time to mobilise the _Star Wars_ galaxy's industries, which would not be mobilised at the beginning of the war. Each of those three factors is probably responsible for downgrading that figure by a factor of two.

So the Republic had 3 million _Magnificence_-class battleships and 48 million _Glory_-class star destroyers at the end of the Clone Wars.

This is consistent with _The Phantom Menace_, where the density of spaceships in the sky indicates that there are literally millions of spaceships above Coruscant alone. This isn't a galactic fleet, this is just ordinary civilian activity on _one_ planet! Clearly, people who, like the SWEU, say that the Republic/Empire only has a few thousand ships are wrong: one planet, albeit a very important one, has _millions_ of spaceships, and there are nearly a million planets in the _Star Wars_ galaxy.

Also in _The Phantom Menace_, the Trade Federation—a private shipping company—deploys the equivalent of over 1.1 million _Glory_-class star destroyers in the blockade of Naboo (a helpless target), _just to prove a political point_. If that's what a _private shipping company_ can do in peacetime as a political gesture, what can a galactic government do in wartime as a serious effort?

* * *

><p><strong>8. Size of warships:<strong>

**(a) Palpatine and Vader's enormous fla******gship from ****_**The Empire Strikes Back**_**** and ****_**Return of the Jedi**_

Palpatine and Vader's enormous flagship from _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_ doesn't have a canonical name, but I'm keeping the SWEU's name for that ship, _Executor_, for two reasons: first, that the word _Executor _does sound like something that the Empire would call a ship, and secondly, I just like the word.

According to Dr Curtis Saxton's detailed scaling from _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_ on his _Star Wars_ Technical Commentaries website, _Executor_ is eleven times the length of an Imperial star destroyer, and, thus, is 17,600m long. Unfortunately, he didn't choose to scale her width or height (if he, or someone else reliable, did, then please tell me).

As such, I had to judge by screenshot + ruler. Her height is roughly equal to the length of an Imperial star destroyer (which is 1,600m), at her highest point: the back of her. And her width is roughly five times the length of an Imperial star destroyer, at her widest point.

Unfortunately, _Executor_ doesn't have as simple a shape as an Imperial star destroyer. The front part of her declines fairly evenly to one point at the end, just like an Imperial star destroyer, but about 2/13 of her length—approximately the back 2,700m—is of a width which declines in the opposite direction, and which averages 1/3 of her width at her widest point: in other words, it's 2,700m wide.

Fortunately, the height of that section roughly follows the same pattern as the rest of _Executor_.

Therefore the average height of _Executor_ is about 800m, and her area is:

(14,900m × 4,000m) + (2,700m × 2,700m)  
>= 59,600,000m² + 7,290,000m²<br>= 66,890,000m²

So the volume of _Executor_ is

_V_ = 800m × 66,890,000m² = 53,512,000,000m³ = 54,000,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

**(b) The mysterious ship seen at the Battle of ******Endor in ****_**Return of the Jedi**_

When Luke Skywalker looks out from the window of Emperor Palpatine's throne room on the second Death Star in _Return of the Jedi_, he sees a very large vessel that is obviously _Executor_, many smaller vessels that are obviously Imperial star destroyers, and a mid-sized vessel, a third of the length of _Executor_ but half _Executor_'s height. As such, this ship must be 5,900m long and an average of 400m high.

To confirm the existence of a warship class at Endor which is neither _Executor_ nor a known class of star destroyer, we see a damaged bridge tower which is different to any other bridge tower ever seen in _Star Wars_, as is described on Dr Curtis Saxton's _Star Wars_ Technical Commentaries website.

Note: Of course, it's always possible that this bridge tower belongs to _another_ new class of Imperial warship, but Occam's Razor says that, lacking any evidence to the contrary, we should assume that there's only one new class of Imperial warship.

If this ship's average width is 5/22 of her length, like _Executor_'s width, then her average width is 1,300m [calculated to two significant figures].

If this ship's average width is 1/4 of her length, like the width of every star destroyer ever seen in _Star Wars_, then her average width is 1,500m [calculated to two significant figures].

Since this ship, like _Executor_, is a battleship (for why I think this, please see Calculation 9(c)), it's likelier to be similar to _Executor_ than to a star destroyer. Therefore, I assume that this ship's average width is 1,300m.

_V_ = 400m × 5,900m × 1,300m = 3,100,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

**(c) Trade Federation battleship from the ****_Star Wars_**** prequel trilogy**

Scaling from the _Star Wars_ prequel trilogy reveals the Trade Federation battleship to be 3,200m in length. Simple eyesight reveals the Trade Federation battleship to be a torus, with a sphere in the middle.

The sphere's diameter is about the same as the diameter of the torus, which, in turn, is about the same as the gap between the edge of the torus and the corresponding point on the equator of the sphere.

Therefore, the sphere's diameter is a fifth of 3,200m: 640m. Therefore the radius of either the sphere or the torus is 320m, and, if a straight line was drawn right through the middle of the torus, it would be 1,600m – 320m = 1,280m away from the centre of the battleship at any point.

Let _r_ be the radius of the torus's ring or the sphere, and let _R_ be the radius between the centre of the torus's ring and the centre of the battleship.

Volume of sphere: _V_ = 4π_r_³ ÷ 3 = 4π × 320³ ÷ 3 = 137,258,277.4m³.

Volume of a torus: _V_ = π_r_² × 2π_R_ = 2π²_r_²_R_ = 2π² × 320² × 1,280 = 2,587,257,576m³.

But the ring is actually only 330 degrees of a ring, not a full 360 degrees, since it has a hole at one point of about 30 degrees. Therefore:

2,587,257,576 × 330 ÷ 360 = 2,371,652,778m³.

_V_ = 137,258,277.4m³ + 2,371,652,778m³ = 2,508,911,055.4m³ = 2,500,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

****(d) The Galactic Republic's star destroyers from ******_**Revenge of the Sith**_**

**Judging by scaling from when Anakin and Obi-Wan's fighters fly over one of these star destroyers in the Battle of Coruscant in **_Revenge of the Sith_**, these star destroyers are 1,100m long.**

**Judging by eye (which is all that I can do), their width is about a quarter of their length (on average, that is: they're narrower at the front and wider at the back), so they're 275m wide, and their height is about a tenth of their length (on average, since they're shorter at the front and taller at the back), so they're about 110m tall.**

**_V_**** = 1,100m × 275m × 110m = 33,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].**

**(e) The Galactic Empire's star destroyers from the ****_Star Wars_**** original trilogy**

Judging by scaling from the _Star Wars_ original trilogy, these star destroyers are 1,600m long. The scaling has been performed with a star destroyer next to an Imperial shuttle in _Return of the Jedi_, with the star destroyer _Avenger_ (on whose bridge tower the _Millennium Falcon_ was perched) in _The Empire Strikes Back_, and with the Organas' "consular ship" (as it was described by a Rebel in _A New Hope_) next to the star destroyer which captured Princess Leia in _A New Hope_. All of them produce consistent results indicating a length of 1,600m.

Judging by eye, their width is about a quarter of their length (on average, that is: they're narrower at the front and wider at the back), so they're 400m wide, and their height is about a tenth of their length (on average, since they're shorter at the front and taller at the back), so they're about 160m tall.

_V_ = 1,600m × 400m × 160m = 100,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

**(f) The Galactic Republic's star destroyers from **_**Attack of the Clones**_

Judging by scaling from when Chancellor Palpatine watches some clone troopers boarding these star destroyers at the end of _Attack of the Clones_, these star destroyers are 750m long.

Judging by eye (which is all that I can do), their width is about a quarter of their length (on average, that is: they're narrower at the front and wider at the back), so they're 187.5m wide, and their height is about a tenth of their length (on average, since they're shorter at the front and taller at the back), so they're about 75m tall.

_V_ = 750m × 187.5m × 75m = 11,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

**(g) _Warhammer 40,000_ Imperial Naval battleships**

All four classes of Imperial Naval battleships—the _Apocalypse_, _Emperor_, _Oberon_ and _Retribution_ classes—are 8,000m long, and roughly the same as each other in all height and with.

Judging simply by appearance, the width of all Imperial Naval battleships is very similar to their height.

Unfortunately, _Rogue Trader_ doesn't give the width of any battleship, as it does for the other warships.

However, one should presume that an Imperial Naval battleship is at least as big as even the largest grand cruiser in all dimensions, and _Rogue Trader_ says that an _Avenger_-class grand cruiser is 1,800m wide, so an Imperial Naval battleship's volume is:

_V_ = 8,000 × 1,800 × 1,800 = 26,000,000,000m³

Fortunately, every other Imperial Naval warship is either given exact measurements by _Rogue Trader_, or is given no data at all and is therefore unable to be calculated.

**(h) All the various classes of _Warhammer 40,000_ Imperial Naval escorts**

This calculation will compare the volume of seven of the eight known classes of escorts in the Imperial Navy. It won't cover troopships or logistics ships.

The only class of escort that I've left out is the Defence Monitor. I would have liked to cover her, but I can't, because I know absolutely nothing about her size. She might be anything from 1,000m long to 3,000m long; I simply don't know.

First, we must calculate their volume. Judging simply by appearance, the width of all Imperial Naval escorts is very similar to their height.

_Claymore_-class corvette: 1,400m × 300m × 300m = 130,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Cobra<em>-class destroyer: 1,500m × 300m × 300m = 140,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Sword<em>-class frigate: 1,600m × 300m × 300m = 140,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Firestorm<em>-class frigate: 1,800m × 300m × 300m = 160,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Turbulent<em>-class heavy frigate: 1,950m × 300m × 300m = 180,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Falchion<em>-class escort: 2,200m × 300m × 300m = 200,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Tempest<em>-class frigate: 1,500m × 400m × 400m = 240,000,000m³.

**(i) All the various classes of _Warhammer 40,000_ Imperial Naval cruisers**

This calculation will compare the volume of twelve of the sixteen known classes of cruisers in the Imperial Navy.

The four classes of cruiser that I've left out are the _Endurance_-class light cruiser, the _Dominator_-class cruiser, the _Gothic_-class cruiser and the _Vengeance_-class grand cruiser. I would have liked to cover them, but I can't, because I know absolutely nothing about their size.

First, we must calculate their volume. Judging simply by appearance, the width of all Imperial Naval cruisers is very similar to their height.

_Defiant_-class light cruiser: 3,800m × 500m × 500m = 950,000,000m³_  
>Endeavour<em>-class light cruiser: 3,800m × 500m × 500m = 950,000,000m³_  
>Dauntless<em>-class light cruiser: 4,500m × 500m × 500m = 1,100,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Armageddon<em>-class battlecruiser: 5,000m × 800m × 800m = 3,200,000,000m³  
><em>Lunar<em>-class cruiser: 5,000m × 800m × 800m = 3,200,000,000m³  
><em>Tyrant<em>-class cruiser: 5,000m × 800m × 800m = 3,200,000,000m³  
><em>Chalice<em>-class battlecruiser: 5,100m × 800m × 800m = 3,300,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Dictator<em>-class cruiser: 5,100m × 800m × 800m = 3,300,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Overlord<em>-class battlecruiser: 5,300m × 850m × 850m = 3,800,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Mars<em>-class battlecruiser: 5,400m × 850m × 850m = 3,900,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Exorcist<em>-class grand cruiser: 7,300m × 1,100m × 1,100m = 8,800,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Avenger<em>-class grand cruiser: 7,500m × 1,800m × 1,800m = 24,000,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

* * *

><p><strong>9. Warship types:<strong>

**(a) What types of warships are there in _Warhammer 40,000_?**

Escorts—frigates and destroyers—exist, and do similar things to what they do in real life: frigates protect convoys from pirates and enemy raiders, and destroyers protect bigger ships from aircraft—or rather, their _Warhammer 40,000_ equivalent, namely attack craft. (In real life, destroyers are also supposed to protect bigger ships from torpedo boats and submarines, but there are no analogies for torpedo boats or submarines in _Warhammer 40,000_ warfare.)

However, unlike in real life, all _Warhammer 40,000_ escorts act like real-life destroyers, including _Warhammer 40,000_ frigates. For instance, _Sword_-class frigates are ubiquitous at the side of Imperial Naval battleships, whereas in real life frigates are just there to protect convoys, and the protection of battleships has always been a role for destroyers.

This tells us that, in _Warhammer 40,000_, all escorts are effectively destroyers, and the different names for each—for instance, _Cobra-_class ships being called destroyers, and _Tempest_-class ships being called frigates—are just names, not indicative of any true difference in role.

The majority of warships in most fleets are light cruisers (such as the _Endurance_-class and _Defiant_-class light cruisers), second-line cruisers (such as the _Gothic_-class and _Dominator_-class cruisers) and first-line cruisers (such as the _Overlord_-class and _Armageddon_-class battlecruisers).

Note: The phrases "second-line cruiser" and "first-line cruiser" come from warship counts for the Imperial fleet at Armageddon, from the 3rd Edition of _Codex: Armageddon_. Their meanings (conventional cruiser and battlecruiser, respectively) are my own assumptions, based on the fact that there are 63 first-line cruisers and 90 second-line cruisers, which would fit with the idea of first-line cruisers being more powerful (a bit like the rating system often employed in the Napoleonic Wars, where the most powerful type of ship was a 'first-rate', followed by a 'second-rate' and so on).

Battlecruisers play an interesting role in _Warhammer 40,000_. In real life, the Oxford Dictionary of English (Second Edition, Revised) defines a battlecruiser thus: "A large warship of a type built in the early 20th century, carrying similar armament to a battleship but faster and more lightly armoured." However, in _Warhammer 40,000_, battlecruisers do not perform this role: they are basically heavy cruisers, nothing more. They certainly don't have the same firepower as battleships.

There is another type of warship in _Warhammer 40,000_, however, which does not exist in real life: the grand cruiser. Grand cruisers are very rare in the 41st millennium, though they used to be popular in the Imperial Navy because they actually did have the same firepower as battleships, and many Imperial Naval officers began to treat them as battleships. However, it was soon discovered that they could not take as much damage as they could dish out, so grand cruisers became distrusted. This role (though it appears unpopular) is _precisely _analogous to a real battlecruiser: a warship with similar armament (offensive firepower) as a battleship, but with much less weaker defences, intended to beat anything less than a true battleship and run away if she does encounter a true battleship.

On the surface, it seems that battleships play the same role in _Warhammer 40,000_ as in real life: "A heavy warship of a type built chiefly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with extensive armour protection and large-calibre guns", as the Oxford Dictionary of English describes it. But if you look more closely, they don't. Battleships come in such small numbers—there are four battleships in an Imperial Naval fleet of 642 ships (360 escorts and 278 cruisers of various kinds)—that, in spite of battleships' great firepower, it's the cruisers that form the real heart of the Imperial Navy.

So what's our conclusion? The Imperial Navy is centred around its cruisers, which are guarded by destroyers just as the battleships are. Battleships exist, but only really as a way for admirals to show off how powerful they are; they don't really fulfil the real-life role: that is to say, a line-of-battle ship, which exists for its firepower.

Essentially, an Imperial 'battleship' is more like a real-life super battleship, and an Imperial 'cruiser' is a sort of multi-role cruiser/battleship.

**(b) What is a star destroyer?**

There is a common disagreement on whether the term 'star destroyer' is

1. A class of warship (like a _Nimitz_-class aircraft carrier)

2. A name for any warship of the Galactic Empire

3. A type of warship (like a light cruiser)

4. A name for a particular brand of dagger-shaped warships

My own opinion has switched many times, but we can disqualify Options 1 and 2:

The term 'star destroyer' is used for three classes of 1,600m-long Imperial spaceships. We see the first class throughout the entire original trilogy, the second class in _The Empire Strikes Back _and _Return of the Jedi_, and the third class briefly in the Battle of Endor in _Return of the Jedi_. This disproves Option 1.

The term 'Imperial star destroyer' is often used in the _Star Wars_ original trilogy. This would not make sense if every star destroyer was, by definition, Imperial. Therefore, it must be (at least theoretically) possible for a star destroyer to be non-Imperial: the star destroyers of the Galactic Republic, for example. This disproves Option 2.

This leaves two ideas: Options 3 and 4. Option 3 is largely based on the term 'star destroyer' being roughly equivalent to 'destroyer' IN SPACE: the same idea as 'starships' or 'star wars' meaning ships or wars IN SPACE. Option 4 is largely based on Han's reference to Imperial star destroyers as "Imperial cruisers" in _A New Hope_, indicating that it's possible for something to be both a cruiser and a star destroyer.

So we should look at what a destroyer actually is, and what a cruiser actually is. Let's go to the Oxford Dictionary of English (Second Edition, Revised) and find the relevant definitions:

Destroyer: "A small, fast warship, especially one equipped for a defensive role against submarines and aircraft."

Cruiser: "A relatively fast warship larger than a destroyer and less heavily armed than a battleship."

The problem with the idea that star destroyers are cruisers is that they're so small. No real-life cruiser is 32 times smaller than a battleship; it just doesn't happen. The entire Imperial fleet at Endor (except for Palpatine and Vader's enormous flagship, of course) of 32 star destroyers was equal in firepower to the mysterious 5,900m-long Imperial warship there, all on its own. That makes some sort of sense if star destroyers are destroyers. It makes no sense at all if star destroyers are cruisers.

It's true that star destroyers sometimes operate alone, like cruisers do. But the vast majority of the time, star destroyers operate in teams, either serving as a star destroyer screen for a bigger ship or acting as a squadron or flotilla. Both roles are completely consistent with how destroyers operate in real life. They only ever operate alone when they're chasing far inferior opposition, such as Leia's tiny consular ship, or when they're launching probe droids (which isn't exactly combat duty). Even when chasing the _Millennium Falcon_ in _A New Hope_, two star destroyers are sent, not one.

So, now that we've confirmed that a star destroyer _is _just a destroyer IN SPACE, we need to rationalise Han's calling them cruisers. My answer is to point to how a Trade Federation droid addressed a tiny Republic ship (probably less than 100m long) as a "Republic cruiser" and how Nute Gunray addressed Amidala's similarly small ship as a "Naboo cruiser" in _The Phantom Menace_. Basically, in _Star Wars_, people often use the word 'cruiser' in the informal definition of "any ship", rather than the formal, correct definition of "a relatively fast warship larger than a destroyer and less heavily armed than a battleship". This shouldn't be too surprising—after all, in real life, I doubt that most people check to see whether a luxury cruiser is technically larger than a destroyer before calling it a luxury cruiser.

There are two more pieces of opposition to the idea that a star destroyer is a destroyer. First of all, some people argue that Palpatine and Vader's enormous flagship from _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_ is a star destroyer, but that's just wrong. A statement commonly used to argue for this is Darth Vader's line: "Alert my star destroyer to prepare for my arrival." But we have no evidence that he was actually calling for the massive flagship; he might have been calling for a genuine star destroyer; we know from _Return of the Jedi_ that Vader sometimes travels on star destroyers rather than that flagship. Another such statement is Leia saying "star destroyer" as she spots that flagship pursuing the _Millennium Falcon_ from Bespin. But she's very tired at the time, and if you can't tell the size difference, Palpatine and Vader's flagship does look fairly like a star destroyer: they're both greyish, wedge-shaped warships, it's just that one of them is much, much bigger.

That's the most important reason why we know that Palpatine and Vader's flagship isn't a star destroyer. In real life, even the biggest ships ever built aren't 540 times the size of a destroyer. The idea that two ships whose size are separated by a factor of over 500 could be the _same type of ship_ is just ridiculous.

Secondly, the Rebel warships in _Return of the Jedi_, some of which are 3,800m long and others of which are 1,200m long and thus smaller than star destroyers, are all called "cruisers" three times in Rebel dialogue, so some people argue that star destroyers don't qualify as destroyers because cruisers are, by definition, _larger_ than destroyers.

But all the Rebels' lines can be explained in two ways: either by the idea that the Rebels are using the informal definition of the word 'cruiser' (as described two paragraphs above this one), or by the following:

ADMIRAL ACKBAR: Once the shield is down, our cruisers will create a perimeter, while the fighters fly into the superstructure and attempt to knock out the main reactor.

Admiral Ackbar might have meant, "Our cruisers [the 3,800m-long ones] will create a perimeter, and our star destroyers [the 1,200m-long ones] will escort them."

LANDO: Draw their fire away from the cruisers.

In this case, Lando might genuinely only be talking about the 3,800m-long cruisers, since he doesn't specify. After all, it's more important to protect the Rebel cruisers (which are more expensive and less replaceable) than it is to protect the Rebel star destroyers.

ADMIRAL ACKBAR (referring to the second Death Star): Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!

Ackbar is very likely to have meant, "Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude, so our star destroyers don't stand a chance!"

**(c) What is a _Star Wars_ battleship?**

In _The Phantom Menace_, the Trade Federation's blockading ships are frequently referred to as battleships.

A battleship is defined by the Oxford Dictionary of English (Second Edition, Revised) thus:

"A heavy warship of a type built chiefly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with extensive armour protection and large-calibre guns."

In _Star Wars_, where warship armour is virtually useless and shields are a warship's only credible defences, we should replace "armour" with "shielding". Similarly, there's no such thing as a "calibre" of turbolasers, just size (i.e. some turbolasers are bigger than others). But other than that, the definition holds true.

Historically, battleships are the largest type of warships available in any fleet (except aircraft carriers, and there's no equivalent of those in _Star Wars_ because virtually every ship carries fighters, not just some). There's no logical reason to ignore this.

Now we should look at Palpatine and Vader's enormous flagship from _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_. This ship doesn't have a canonical name, but I'm keeping the SWEU's name for that ship, _Executor_, for two reasons: first, that the word _Executor _does sound like something that the Empire would call a ship, and secondly, I just like the word.

For proof that the volume of _Executor_ is 540 times the volume of an Imperial star destroyer, please see Calculation 8(a) and (e).

_Executor_ is bigger than any star destroyer or cruiser, but she's also considerably bigger than any battleship (being over twenty times the size of a Trade Federation battleship). Real life has no solution, except the informal term 'super battleship'. This term describes _Executor_ fairly well, but it's just an informal term, not a proper name.

Formally, _Executor_, like the World War II-era Japanese battleship _Yamato_, would be described as a battleship, despite being much bigger than other battleships. There simply isn't any other terminology to use.

Since _Executor_ is a battleship, she's the only ship of her class whose name we know, and she's the personal flagship of the Galactic Emperor himself, there's every reason to assume that she's the first ship of her class. Because of that, _Executor_ herself is an _Executor_-class battleship.

There's only one other ship to address. When Luke Skywalker looks out from the window of Emperor Palpatine's throne room on the second Death Star in _Return of the Jedi_, he sees a very large vessel that is obviously _Executor_, many smaller vessels that are obviously Imperial star destroyers, and a mid-sized, 5,900m-long vessel.

This mysterious ship is 150 [calculated to two significant figures] times as powerful as an Imperial star destroyer, and 1.3 [calculated to two significant figures] times the volume of a Trade Federation battleship, though only 1/17 of the volume of _Executor_ herself. Please see Calculations 6(a), (b), (c) and (e) for the energy generation capacity of _Executor_, the mysterious 5,900m-long ship, Trade Federation battleships, and Imperial star destroyers, respectively.

The mysterious 5,900m-long ship, we now know, is bigger than one class of battleship (a Trade Federation battleship), so it's too big to be anything other than a battleship.

**(d) What is a 'super star destroyer'?**

This term only appears once, used by Admiral Ackbar to describe _Executor_:

ADMIRAL ACKBAR: Concentrate all fire on that super star destroyer!

Can 'super star destroyer' be a formal ship class, in the form _Super_-class star destroyer? No. Aside from the fact that _Executor_ obviously isn't a star destroyer, that would require that the first ship of _Executor_'s class be named _Super_—and I refuse to believe that the Galactic Empire would name a powerful battleship _Super_. What's next, the great battleship _Spider_ or _Bat_?

The real meaning of the term 'super star destroyer' is obvious—an informal term meaning "anything bigger than a normal star destroyer", as with the real-life term 'super battleship'.

* * *

><p><strong>10. Ship statistics for the Imperium:<strong>

**(a) How much energy can 1m³ of _Warhammer 40,000_**** fuel generate?**

_Warhammer 40,000_ technology (except for that of the Necrons) is powered by "Plasma Generators", based on nuclear fusion. I don't need to know much about how they work: I'm going to work out how much energy they can effectively deliver.

I'm going to work out the total energy generation capacity of the _Apocalypse_-class battleship by calculating the energy delivered by its main weapon, the mighty Nova Cannon, one of the most powerful weapons in _Warhammer 40,000_. I'm calculating based on the Nova Cannon because its energy is fairly easy to work out.

The Nova Cannon is a massive object with a diameter of 50m (and therefore a radius of 25m), fired at nearly the speed of light in a vacuum (300,000,000m/s): let's say it's travelling at 99% of the speed of light in a vacuum, 0.99_c_ (the letter _c_ is used in physics to symbolise the speed of light in a vacuum). First, we have to work out its volume.

I've been informed that _Rogue Trader_ says that Nova Cannon shells normally mirror traditional explosive shells, so they're cylindrical and their length is 75m (three times their radius). If so, we must work out the volume of a cylinder: _V_ = π_r_²_h_.

π_r_²_h_ = π × 25² × 75 = 150,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

We can use this to work out the mass of a Nova Cannon projectile. The densest stable metal in the universe, osmium, has a density of 23,000kg/m³ [calculated to two significant figures]. To put this into perspective, lead's density is 11,000kg/m³: about half as dense. Osmium is very, _very_ dense. However, this is sci-fi, so the Imperium might be able to develop materials that are even heavier than osmium.

For the sake of making a generous assumption, let's say that Nova Cannon projectiles are a full _ten times_ as dense as osmium: 230,000kg/m³. In that case, the mass of a Nova Cannon projectile is 35,000,000,000kg [calculated to two significant figures].

Now I calculate how much kinetic energy it takes to send that mass at 297,000,000m/s, by using the equation for relativistic kinetic energy: _KE_ = _mc_² ÷ √(1 – _v_² ÷ _c_²) – _mc_².

_KE_ = 35,000,000,000 × 300,000,000² ÷ √(1 – (0.99_c_)² ÷ _c_²) – 35,000,000,000 × 300,000,000²  
>= 3.15 × 10^27 ÷ √(1 – 0.9801) – 3.15 × 10^27<br>= 3.15 × 10^27 ÷ 0.1410673598 – 3.15 × 10^27  
>= 1.9 × 10^28 [calculated to two significant figures].<p>

But there's actually an even bigger difference than that. If that much kinetic energy was applied to the battleship in recoil (and it would be), then the battleship would be immediately hurled away from the battle at tens of thousands of kilometres per second. Obviously, this doesn't happen, so the recoil must be compensated for, by putting extra energy to the engines.

In that case, in order to counter the momentum of the Nova Cannon shell, the battleship actually needs somewhere between 1.9 × 10^28 joules and 1.9 × 10^28 × 2 = 3.8 × 10^28 joules, depending on its efficiency. In order to be generous, I'm assuming that it takes up 3.8 × 10^28 joules.

Now I have to find out two more things: How many times can an _Apocalypse_-class battleship fire her Nova Cannon? How much of the _Apocalypse_-class ship's energy generation capacity is devoted to her Nova Cannon?

I must estimate these: 192 times, and 1/10. The latter is fairly arbitrary (and thus I've chosen to be generous in assuming that the Nova Cannon is only a small proportion of the ship's energy generation capacity). As for the former, I've heard somewhere (I'm afraid that I don't recall the source) that a Nova Cannon's rate of fire is twice per hour. If that is true, then, given that an _Apocalypse_-class battleship was engaged in a fight, it would take 96 hours (four days) of continuous firing for her to run out of plasma fuel for her Nova Cannon: a highly generous estimate of the _Apocalypse_ class's capability.

Therefore, the total energy generation capacity of an _Apocalypse_-class battleship is 3.8 × 10^28 × 192 ÷ 1/10 = 7.3 × 10^31 joules [calculated to two significant figures].

An exaton of energy is equivalent to 4.2 × 10^27 joules of energy.

Therefore, an _Apocalypse_-class battleship, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 17,000 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

For proof that the total volume of an Imperial Naval battleship is 26,000,000,000m³, please see Calculation 8(g).

Note: For those who object to this method on grounds that efficiency would change things, please see my note at the end of Calculation 5(a).

In real life, a warship's armour and internal walls and suchlike take up about 5% of the ship's volume. I'll go with this for my calculations.

I'm also assuming that a full 20% of an _Apocalypse_-class ship's volume is taken up by the spaces for crewmen, attack craft and other operators. This is probably an overestimate, but that's acceptable, because I am trying to make a conservative estimate of an _Apocalypse_-class ship's fuel capacity.

There is no reason to believe that there are any troops aboard an _Apocalypse_-class ship, and active reason to believe that there aren't, since she's a warship and she should be trying to conserve space for firepower.

That leaves 75% of the ship's bulk for reactors and fuel storage.

If 20% of that, in turn, is taken up by internal walls and equipment of sorts, that would leave 60% of the ship's volume as pure plasma fuel.

Note: Some people argue that attack craft would take up a significant portion of the ship's mass, but that's just stupid. Please see my note on this in Calculation 6(a).

Therefore, the volume of the plasma fuel in an _Apocalypse_-class ship is 26,000,000,000m³ × 60% = 16,000,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

Note: I'm generously assuming that the _Apocalypse _class, despite being an unusually powerful battleship, doesn't require an unusually large amount of plasma fuel.

Therefore, it takes 16 billion cubic metres of plasma fuel for an Imperial Naval warship to generate 7.3 × 10^31 joules of energy.

7.3 × 10^31 ÷ 16,000,000,000 = 4.6 × 10^21 [calculated to two significant figures].

Therefore, each cubic metre of plasma fuel generates 4.6 × 10^21 joules.

This is slightly less than a tenth as much as the value for proton fuel.

**(b) How much energy can all the various classes of Imperial Naval escorts generate?**

This calculation will compare the energy generation capacity of seven of the eight known classes of escorts in the Imperial Navy. It won't cover troopships or logistics ships.

The only class of escort that I've left out is the Defence Monitor. I would have liked to cover her, but I can't, because I know absolutely nothing about her size. She might be anything from 1,000m long to 3,000m long; I simply don't know.

First, we must calculate their volume. That has been done in Calculation 8(h). Next, we must calculate the volume of plasma fuel in each escort.

Note: For those who object to this method on grounds that efficiency would change things, please see my note at the end of Calculation 5(a).

In real life, a warship's armour and internal walls and suchlike take up about 5% of the ship's volume. I'll go with this for my calculations.

I'm also assuming that a full 20% of an Imperial Naval escort's volume is taken up by the spaces for crewmen, attack craft and other operators. This is probably an overestimate, but that's acceptable, because I'm trying to make a conservative estimate of an Imperial Naval escort's fuel capacity.

There is no reason to believe that there are any troops aboard an Imperial Naval escort, and active reason to believe that there aren't, since she's a warship and she should be trying to conserve space for firepower.

That leaves 75% of the ship's bulk for reactors and fuel storage.

If 20% of that, in turn, is taken up by internal walls and equipment of sorts, that would leave 60% of the ship's volume as pure proton fuel.

Note: Some people argue that attack craft would take up a significant portion of the ship's mass, but that's just stupid. Please see my note on this in Calculation 6(a).

Therefore, the volume of the plasma fuel in any escort of the Imperial Navy is (total volume of ship) × 60%.

_Claymore_: 130,000,000m³ × 60% = 78,000,000m³  
><em>Cobra<em>: 140,000,000m³ × 60% = 84,000,000m³  
><em>Sword<em>: 140,000,000m³ × 60% = 84,000,000m³  
><em>Firestorm<em>: 160,000,000m³ × 60% = 96,000,000m³  
><em>Turbulent<em>: 180,000,000m³ × 60% = 110,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Falchion<em>: 200,000,000m³ × 60% = 120,000,000m³  
><em>Tempest<em>: 240,000,000m³ × 60% = 140,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

Finally, we just multiply all these by 4.6 × 10^21 joules, and we get:

_Claymore_: 78,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 3.6 × 10^29 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Cobra<em>: 84,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 3.9 × 10^29 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Sword<em>: 84,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 3.9 × 10^29 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Firestorm<em>: 96,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 4.4 × 10^29 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Turbulent<em>: 110,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 5.1 × 10^29 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Falchion<em>: 120,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 5.5 × 10^29 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Tempest<em>: 140,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 6.4 × 10^29 joules [calculated to two significant figures].

To translate this into an easier-to-understand form, there are 4.2 × 10^27 joules in one exaton. Therefore, in conclusion:

A _Claymore_-class corvette, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 86 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Cobra_-class destroyer, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 93 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Sword_-class frigate, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 93 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Firestorm_-class frigate, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 100 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Turbulent_-class heavy frigate, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 120 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Falchion_-class escort, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 130 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Tempest_-class frigate, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 150 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

**(c) How much energy can all the various classes of Imperial Naval cruisers generate?**

This calculation will compare the energy generation capacity of twelve of the sixteen known classes of cruisers in the Imperial Navy.

The four classes of cruiser that I've left out are the _Endurance_-class light cruiser, the _Dominator_-class cruiser, the _Gothic_-class cruiser and the _Vengeance_-class grand cruiser. I would have liked to cover them, but I can't, because I know absolutely nothing about their size.

First, we must calculate their volume. That has been done in Calculation 8(i). Next, we must calculate the volume of plasma fuel in each escort.

Note: For those who object to this method on grounds that efficiency would change things, please see my note at the end of Calculation 5(a).

In real life, a warship's armour and internal walls and suchlike take up about 5% of the ship's volume. I'll go with this for my calculations.

I'm also assuming that a full 20% of an Imperial Naval cruiser's volume is taken up by the spaces for crewmen, attack craft and other operators. This is probably an overestimate, but that's acceptable, because I'm trying to make a conservative estimate of an Imperial Naval cruiser's fuel capacity.

There is no reason to believe that there are any troops aboard an Imperial Naval cruiser, and active reason to believe that there aren't, since she's a warship and she should be trying to conserve space for firepower.

That leaves 75% of the ship's bulk for reactors and fuel storage.

If 20% of that, in turn, is taken up by internal walls and equipment of sorts, that would leave 60% of the ship's volume as pure proton fuel.

Note: Some people argue that attack craft would take up a significant portion of the ship's mass, but that's just stupid. Please see my note on this in Calculation 6(a).

Therefore, the volume of the plasma fuel in any cruiser of the Imperial Navy is (total volume of ship) × 60%.

_Defiant_: 950,000,000m³ × 60% = 570,000,000m³_  
>Endeavour<em>: 950,000,000m³ × 60% = 570,000,000m³_  
>Dauntless<em>: 1,100,000,000m³ × 60% = 660,000,000m³  
><em>Armageddon<em>: 3,200,000,000m³ × 60% = 1,900,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Lunar<em>: 3,200,000,000m³ × 60% = 1,900,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Tyrant<em>: 3,200,000,000m³ × 60% = 1,900,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Chalice<em>: 3,300,000,000m³ × 60% = 2,000,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Dictator<em>: 3,300,000,000m³ × 60% = 2,000,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Overlord<em>: 3,800,000,000m³ × 60% = 2,300,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Mars<em>: 3,900,000,000m³ × 60% = 2,300,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Exorcist<em>: 8,800,000,000m³ × 60% = 5,300,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Avenger<em>: 24,000,000,000m³ × 60% = 14,000,000,000m³ [calculated to two significant figures].

Finally, we just multiply all these by 4.6 × 10^21 joules, and we get:

_Defiant_: 570,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 2.6 × 10^30 joules [calculated to two significant figures]_  
>Endeavour<em>: 570,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 2.6 × 10^30 joules [calculated to two significant figures]_  
>Dauntless<em>: 660,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 3.0 × 10^30 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Armageddon<em>: 1,900,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 8.7 × 10^30 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Lunar<em>: 1,900,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 8.7 × 10^30 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Tyrant<em>: 1,900,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 8.7 × 10^30 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Chalice<em>: 2,000,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 9.2 × 10^30 joules  
><em>Dictator<em>: 2,000,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 9.2 × 10^30 joules  
><em>Overlord<em>: 2,300,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 1.1 × 10^31 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Mars<em>: 2,300,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 1.1 × 10^31 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Exorcist<em>: 5,300,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 2.4 × 10^31 joules [calculated to two significant figures]  
><em>Avenger<em>: 14,000,000,000 × 4.6 × 10^21 = 6.4 × 10^31 joules [calculated to two significant figures].

To translate this into an easier-to-understand form, there are 4.2 × 10^27 joules in one exaton. Therefore, in conclusion:

A _Defiant_-class light cruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 620 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

An _Endeavour_-class light cruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 620 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Dauntless_-class light cruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 710 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

An _Armageddon_-class battlecruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 2,100 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Lunar_-class cruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 2,100 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Tyrant_-class cruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 2,100 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Chalice_-class battlecruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 2,200 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Dictator_-class cruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 2,200 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

An _Overlord_-class battlecruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 2,600 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

A _Mars_-class battlecruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 2,600 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

An _Exorcist_-class grand cruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 5,700 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

An _Avenger_-class grand cruiser, if her fuel tanks are full, can generate 15,000 exatons of energy [calculated to two significant figures].

* * *

><p><strong>11. Numbers of <em>Warhammer 40,000<em> Imperial forces:**

**(a) How many sectors are there in the Imperium?**

Numerous _Warhammer 40,000 _sources state that the Imperium contains one-million inhabited planets; this figure is almost universally agreed. To give but one of the many existing examples, the core 5th Edition says, "The Imperium of Man comprises a million inhabited worlds."

Imperial space is divided into five Segmenta, which are then subdivided into sectors.

There are many canonical figures determining this, but two of them are the most precise:

1. The Gothic Sector contains 73 inhabited planets (if my count is correct: I might be off by one or two or three). I'll round this off to 70, for ease of calculations.

2. A sector is a cube of space with a side-length of 200 light-years. This gives it a volume of 8,000,000 cubic light-years.

Unfortunately, _Warhammer 40,000_ canon is rarely consistent (though it looks perfect, in comparison to the _Star Wars_ Expanded Universe). These figures are inconsistent with each other, so I'm going with the former, because the latter leads to some truly insane conclusions.

In real life, the Milky Way is 1,000 light-years thick and 60,000 light-years in radius, so its total volume is 60,000² × π × 1,000 = 11,000,000,000,000 cubic light-years [calculated to two significant figures]. 11,000,000,000,000 ÷ 8,000,000 = 1,400,000 [calculated to two significant figures].

Therefore, even if the Imperium only controls half the Milky Way, the latter calculation suggests that the Imperium has a whopping 700,000 sectors. In that case, the majority of Imperial sectors have only one planet each, and all the others would boast a grand total of… two planets each. That's wrong for obvious reasons, so I'm going with the other calculation.

If the Imperium has one-million planets and there are 70 planets per sector, then there are about 14,000 [calculated to two significant figures] sectors in the Imperium.

**(b) How many warships are there in the Imperial Navy?**

The canonical nomenclature for Imperial fleets seems to vary all the time, so I'll make it simple: each sector has a battlefleet, and each Segmentum has a warfleet. Sometimes Segmenta are described as having battlefleets too, but I'll use the term 'warfleet' for the purpose of clarification.

For a start, let's look at the following quotation from the core 5th Edition, on the subject of the Catelexis Heresy:

"Millions upon millions of ships are lost in the resulting upheaval and entire sub-sectors slide into barbarism without the dictats of the Adeptus Terra to guide them."

This proves that the Imperium has _at least_ four-million spaceships ("millions upon millions" must mean at least two pairs of "millions", and "millions" must mean at least two-million). Of course, spaceships ≠ warships, so this statement doesn't prove that the Imperium has millions of warships; indeed, the combined number of supply ships, merchantmen (trading ships) and troopships are likely to _dwarf_ the number of warships—but probably not by more than a factor of ten, and _certainly_ not by more than a factor of one-hundred. As such, the Imperium has at least 40,000 warships, and probably at least 400,000, that were _lost_ (this figure doesn't include all the other ships that were still working just fine); and that was going with the most conservative interpretation of the meaning of "millions upon millions of ships". As such, the figures that I'm about to give out are justified.

According to the 3rd Edition of _Codex: Armageddon_, the following Imperial Naval warships were present at Armageddon:

6 first-line cruiser squadrons  
>9 second-line cruiser squadrons<br>12 light cruiser squadrons  
>36 escort squadrons<br>_Archangel_ - _Defiant_-class light cruiser  
><em>Forebearer<em> - _Defiant_-class light cruiser  
><em>Ex Cathedra<em> - _Armageddon_-class battlecruiser  
><em>Hammer of Light<em> - _Armageddon_-class battlecruiser  
><em>Thunderchild<em> - _Armageddon_-class battlecruiser  
><em>Green Lake<em> -_ Oberon_-class battleship  
><em>His Will<em> - _Apocalypse_-class battleship  
><em>Leonid <em>- _Endeavour_-class light cruiser  
><em>Triumph<em> - _Apocalypse_-class battleship  
><em>Inomine Veritas<em> - _Emperor_-class battleship  
><em>Sanctis Legate<em> - _Endeavour_-class light cruiser  
><em>Sword of Voss<em> - _Endeavour_-class light cruiser

Grand cruisers are not mentioned, but we know from _Battlefleet Gothic _that at least some of them are part of the Imperial Navy's strategic reserves; it seems logical to conclude that most of them are in strategic reserves, considering this data.

We also know from_ Battlefleet Gothic_ that a squadron contains two or three ships, so this amounts to:

72-108 escorts  
>29-41 light cruisers<br>18-27 second-line cruisers  
>12-18 first-line cruisers<br>3 battlecruisers  
>4 battleships<p>

But what are first-line and second-line cruisers? Because the number of battlecruisers seems so small in comparison to their prominence in fleet formations, I'm assuming that first-line cruisers are battlecruisers and that second-line cruisers are standard cruisers, such as _Lunar_-class and _Dictator_-class cruisers.

Average this out, and we get:

90 escorts  
>35 light cruisers<br>22.5 second-line cruisers  
>18 battlecruisers<br>4 battleships

We also know, again from _Battlefleet Gothic_, that a typical sectoral battlefleet contains between 50 and 75 warships. Not having more data on this, the logical assumption would be that a typical sectoral battlefleet contains 63 warships (half-way between 50 and 75, rounded to the nearest integer).

Using the above ratio (90:35:22.5:18:4), we get:

33 escorts  
>13 light cruisers<br>8 second-line cruisers  
>7 battlecruisers<br>2 battleships

for a typical Imperial sectoral battlefleet.

This indicates that Armageddon has significantly more ships than the average battlefleet—not much of a surprise, since Armageddon is under attack by one of the largest orkish invasions ever to hit the Imperium.

63 × 14,000 = 880,000 warships [calculated to two significant figures].

What about Imperial strategic reserve fleets? According to _Battlefleet Gothic_, there are reserve fleets "throughout the Segmentum" (referring to Segmentum Obscurus).

Warfleet Solar is especially large: likely to be, let's say, twice as large as any other Segmentum's strategic reserve fleets. This is because the Sol system is the most heavily defended star-system in the Imperium: not just slightly so, but by a great margin. Terra is _incredibly_ heavily defended.

However, the warfleets are strategic reserves; it's the battlefleets that are the main organisations within the Imperial Navy. Therefore, it seems likely that the warfleets form no more than 20% of the Imperial Navy: probably less, but I'll be generous.

So, if the battlefleets have 880,000 ships, then the warfleets have 220,000 warships.

Now we just divide 220,000 by six, since there are five warfleets but Warfleet Solar is worth two other warfleets. This tells us that a normal warfleet contains about 37,000 warships, and Warfleet Solar contains about 73,000 of them.

880,000 + 220,000 = 1,100,000 Imperial Naval warships.

(This does _not_ include troopships, munitions spaceships, transport spaceships or merchant spaceships, of course. In desperate times, any of those might be impressed into service to the Imperial Navy.)

Obviously, because of the imprecision of this calculation, we shouldn't treat this as an exact figure, but it does tell us that the Imperial Navy contains somewhere vaguely around one-million warships.

**(c) How many warships are there in the loyalist Space Marine chapter fleets?**

The 5th Edition of _Codex: Space Marines_ says, "There are only a thousand such chapters [loyalist Space Marine chapters] spanning the galaxy." This is well established. It also says, "Chapters have often exceeded their basic fighting strength of one thousand souls during times of prolonged war." As such, in the troubled times of the 41st millennium, the Space Marines might number as many as 1.5 million, or 1,500 souls per chapter—but certainly no more than that for the vast majority of chapters.

_Battlefleet Gothic_ says three relevant things here:

"Most Space Marine chapters control two or three Battle Barges."

"Observations indicate that up to three companies can deploy simultaneously [from a Battle Barge]".

"Strike Cruisers appear to carry approximately one full company of Space Marines (including support vehicles)."

Let us assume that the average is 2.5 Battle Barges per chapter. We already know that an Adeptus Astartes company contains one-hundred Space Marines. If "up to three" companies ride in a Battle Barge, then 2.5 companies per Battle Barge would seem like a reasonable average too—certainly there would be more than one company per Battle Barge, since even a mere Strike Cruiser can deploy one company.

Judging by those statistics, an average loyalist Space Marine chapter carries 625 Space Marines on its Battle Barges.

Therefore, each chapter can only use an average of approximately 8.8 Strike Cruisers, or else they would not even have enough Space Marines to be carried by them!

There is one final category of Space Marine vessels to consider: Rapid Strike Vessels. These escort-sized ships do not carry Space Marine combatants at all; they serve merely to escort Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges.

If Rapid Strike Vessels are in the same proportion to Battle Barges as Imperial Naval escorts are to Imperial Naval battleships, each chapter has approximately 103 Rapid Strike Vessels. If Rapid Strike Vessels are in the same proportion to Strike Cruisers as Imperial Naval escorts are to Imperial Naval light cruisers, each chapter has approximately 22 Rapid Strike Vessels. The average of these is about 63 Rapid Strike Vessels per chapter.

Therefore, there are approximately 63,000 Rapid Strike Vessels, 8,800 Strike Cruisers and 2,500 Battle Barges. Obviously, this should not be treated as an exact figure due to the imprecision of the calculation, but it does tell us that the loyalist Space Marines have somewhere vaguely around seventy-thousand warships.

* * *

><p><strong>Results: speed, ship numbers and energy generation capacity.<strong>

Note: If you want to find the source of these results, please see the rest of my calculations.

**Results about speed:**

Hyperdrive is 15,000,000 times the speed of light in a vacuum.

Warp Drive is, on average, 7,100 times the speed of light in a vacuum.

**Results about ship numbers:**

The Galactic Republic has about 51 million warships.

The Imperial Navy has about one-million warships.

The loyalist Space Marines have about seventy-thousand warships.

**Results about energy generation capacity (_Warhammer 40,000_):**

_Claymore_-class corvette: 86 exatons

_Cobra_-class destroyer: 93 exatons

_Sword_-class frigate: 93 exatons

_Firestorm_-class frigate: 100 exatons

_Turbulent_-class heavy frigate: 120 exatons

_Falchion_-class escort: 130 exatons

_Tempest_-class frigate: 150 exatons

_Defiant_-class or _Endeavour_-class light cruiser: 620 exatons

_Dauntless_-class light cruiser: 710 exatons

_Armageddon_-class battlecruiser: 2,100 exatons

_Lunar_-class or _Tyrant_-class cruiser: 2,100 exatons

_Chalice_-class battlecruiser: 2,200 exatons

_Dictator_-class cruiser: 2,200 exatons

_Mars-__class or__ Overlord_-class battlecruiser: 2,600 exatons

_Exorcist_-class grand cruiser: 5,700 exatons

_Avenger_-class grand cruiser: 15,000 exatons

_Apocalypse_-class, _Emperor_-class, _Oberon_-class or _Retribution_-class battleship: 17,000 exatons

**Results about energy generation capacity (_Star Wars_)**

_Unifier_-class star destroyer: 47 exatons

_Glory_-class star destroyer: 150 exatons

Imperial star destroyer: 460 exatons

Trade Federation battleship: 17,000 exatons

_Magnificence_-class battleship: 21,000 exatons

_Executor_-class battleship: 240,000 exatons


	2. Project ChainofFire

The _Warhammer 40,000_ tabletop game, setting and all associated products are the property of Games Workshop. The _Star Wars_ film series, setting and all associated products are the property of Lucasfilm. This story of mine is non-commercial. It is protected under the "Fair Use" section of copyright law.

This story itself is completely my _own_ work; it may be freely copied, downloaded and distributed, as long as it is attributed to me (782 on fanfiction-dot-net). It may _not_ be modified.

If you find anybody plagiarising _Starlight_, please inform me as soon as possible.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes (AN):**

1. There will be swearing, and lots of violence. I _will not_ post warnings over chapters where those things appear. If you can't tolerate reading them, don't read this story.

2. In this story, there will be _no_ explicit descriptions of sex.

3. There is a difference between intelligent criticism—commentary on my writing style, plotline, my facts about each series, characterisation, et cetera—and flaming. I am very happy to hear intelligent criticism. I am _not _happy to hear "i h8 ths stroy coz X + Y hvnt got 2gethr" or "i h8 ths stroy coz da tynarids r so awsum thy could kik ur a**".

4. In my opinion, there are only six _Star Wars_ sources which are real canon: the six _Star Wars_ films. Everything else is glorified fanfiction. For the purposes of this story, the _Star Wars_ Expanded Universe does not exist, except to be laughed at in my notes.

{edit} The chapter 'Notes: Calculations' will always be at the beginning of this story. It contains the justifications for my figures. If you ever want to challenge one of my calculations, please check if it's explained there _before_ you do so.

* * *

><p><strong><span>STARLIGHT<span>**

* * *

><p><span>Project Chain-of-Fire<span>

The wounded warships floated in the void. Around them there were dotted stars like sprinkles of flame amid an endless ocean, and ahead of them there loomed a long galactic spiral arm, leading to the smudge of stars that formed the galaxy's core, and, from there, five other major arms, reaching out into eternal darkness. The planet Imisasi was situated at the edge of the Outer Rim, near a small cluster of black holes: except for expeditions to satellite galaxies **[1]**, nobody had ever been further from Coruscant than this.

Aboard her flagship, the battleship _Independence_, Battle-General Asna Sarl of the Confederacy of Independent Systems looked down proudly at the ships which she was privileged to lead. The warships of her own 198th Battalion **[2]** were typical of the Confederate Starfleet in that it was a mish-mash of starship designs from many different member-nations: some huge spheres spiked with great grey weapon turrets, others lean and streamlined, others different entirely. The crews of the ragtag battalion—or rather, what little was left of it—were mostly trying to fix the battle-damage which even now, hours after the end of the last engagement, was clear: dangerously depleted deflector-shields, gaping scars in hulls, weapon turrets blown off, whole mile-long parts of ships sent blazing into nothingness.

The 198th had come here from the planet Angkamion, where they'd recently been ambushed by a battalion of the Galactic Republic. The titanic battle had gone badly: over ninety-thousand Confederate warships lay as hulks in orbit of that battered world, and Sarl's thirty-thousand warships had been lucky to escape at all. Though all Confederate fleets tended to have more ships than their Republic counterparts, the Republic's _Magnificence_-class battleships **[3]** were bigger than anything that the Confederates could field, and they'd paid the price two days ago—in blood.

"General Sarl," came the flat voice of a battle droid, its skeletal form observing its leader without fear or hesitation, "the enemy is five-hundred light-years away."

"Got it," said Sarl, and pressed the button to activate her comlink. "The 'public'll be here soon. We may be battered but we're not beaten—let's give those motherfuckers a battle they'll never forget!"

A ragged cheer came from the living officers, together with the flat assent of their droid subordinates. Just hearing it gave Sarl a burst of pride. There were people here from all the hundreds of species of the galaxy: geonosians, wookiees, humans, neimodians, toydarians and many, many more. _Far_ _unlike_, she thought, _the stifling, crushing conformity of the Republic_.

Confederate fighters performed last-minute exercises. The battle-stations of Imisasi raised their deflector-shields and prepared their turbolasers. Weary warships pointed their weapon in the direction from which, their spies had told them, the Republic ships would arrive. A kind of grim fortitude descended upon the Confederate 198th Battalion. _We might go down_, thought Sarl, _but we'll bleed the damned Republic every step of the way._

Eighteen minutes after the battle droid's notice, seven-thousand of the Republic's dreaded battleships erupted out of hyperspace, all of them bristling with deadly weapons—but they were in the wrong place, far below their expected location, so that the Confederates were aiming the wrong way.

Sarl's eyes widened in shock. There was a split second of peace: the multi-shaped Confederate starships facing the enormous, grey and red-striped triangles of the Republic—

—then they struck.

Luminescent blue bolts shot towards the 198th, obliterating hundreds of Confederate warships instantly. At the same time, fighters launched themselves out of Republic hangar bays, soon leaving the bounds of their mother-ships' deflector-shields. The Confederate fighters soared to meet them, twirling around in a dance of death amid the warships dead, dealing out death, and dying all around them.

Gliding elegantly like great sharks through space, the Republic battleships stayed in their impeccable formation, accelerating silently towards Sarl's fleet. There was no manoeuvring, no formations, no elegant tactics. Why would they need any? There was nothing to defend, no planet to keep the enemy away from. The only goal of the Republic fleet was to destroy the Confederates, and they could do that easily with their vastly superior firepower.

The Republic weapon turrets struck again. Many of the massive, grey spheres of the Trade Federation simply exploded, torn to pieces by the deadly blue glow of Republic turbolaser fire. Destroyers—or 'star destroyers', as the Republic called them—were useful, but it was the battleships that would truly decide any conflict, and the poor Confederates were fighting seven-thousand stronger battleships with two-thousand weaker ones.

"Repor'!" barked Sarl.

"_Independence_ is fine," said her geonosian second-in-command, Great Admiral Fados Mien, flapping his mud-brown wings worriedly, "but many of the other ships are broken, and the Republic changed their angle of attack at the last minute. They killed far more of us than they should have been able to do."

"How did they know our startin' positions?" thought Sarl aloud, then: "Don't answer me. _Jedi_." This last word was spoken with such hatred that everyone except the battle droids were taken aback.

"Presumably so," said Mien, who felt the same. The Jedi Order had caused untold damage to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. It was they who served as Battle-Generals for all the Republic's battalions, and they'd liberated countless worlds in their quest to defend the tired, corrupt system that was called democracy. Count Dooku, the supreme leader of the CIS, would be delighted if she were to kill any of them—and she would be delighted if she could herself fulfil that wish.

But the Confederate offensive was already splintering. Many of its fighters had been destroyed, either by the anti-fighter turbolasers of Republic destroyers or by the blaster-cannons of Republic fighters. Other enemy fighters were whirling through space, swarming over Confederate warships that had lost their shields and finishing them off with proton torpedoes.

As usual, the Confederates had the advantage of sheer numbers in fighter-to-fighter combat, but in this case, that was not enough: as always, the living, breathing, clone pilots of the Grand Army of the Republic were surpassing their droid counterparts in the CIS.

Battle-General Sarl watched in despair as the battalion which she'd spent her life defending died before her pale green eyes. Finally she made the decision: "Start Project Chain-o'-Fire."

"Chain-of-Fire?" said Mien in shock. "General, come to your senses; that's preposterous! This is just a prototype—it's completely untested, it might kill us all—"

"We're all dead if we don't," Sarl snapped, "so we might as well give it a try, and see if we can take some of the fuckin' Republic bastards with us. Do you want 'em to win?"

"Of course not," insisted Mien, "but sir, we can't risk everyone's lives just because—"

"Are you questionin' my orders, Admiral?" Sarl softly hissed. She'd killed subordinates before—Count Dooku had decreed that it be a standard tool of discipline here, and although she didn't enjoy it she saw the ever-present wisdom in her leader's words.

Mien paled. "N-no, sir."

"Good," said Sarl briskly. "Droids, activa'e Pro'ocol Five-One-C-Nine, clearance code Two-Chi-Epsilon-V."

"Yes, sir," came a battle droid's pitiless voice. "On three, two, one—"

* * *

><p>Battle-General Anakin Skywalker gazed with satisfaction at the proceeding destruction of the Separatist fleet. They'd been chasing this battalion around the galaxy for two sleepless days, ever since it launched a cowardly terrorist attack on the planet of Angkamion, in Larrell, a member-nation which had always stayed loyal to the Republic. Billions of innocent people had died on that day—today those Larrellans would have their revenge.<p>

_Their justice_, Anakin corrected himself, glancing at Battle-General Obi-Wan Kenobi, his former master. The Jedi Order disapproved of revenge.

Millions of miles away from the bridge of the _Glory_-class star destroyer **[5]** _Starlight_, where the two Jedi Knights were standing, a sudden surge of turbolaser bolts from nine Separatist battleships smashed into a Republic battleship, causing her to erupt in a massive burst of fire. Force-sensing the painful deaths of tens of thousands of people struck Anakin like a blow to the stomach, but he didn't cry out or even grimace; the sense of death in horrific numbers was a familiar one, now.

"_YEAH_!" _Starlight_'s bridge crew cheered, just as a Trade Federation battleship exploded under the fire of _Galactic Unity_, the Republic battleship which _Starlight_ was protecting. Despite sensing it, Anakin had barely noticed; Separatist ships were mostly crewed by droids, and the deaths of a paltry few hundred officers were barely noticeable.

"Battleship down!" cried a jubilant Midshipman of the Republic Starfleet, then gazed abashedly at the two Battle-Generals on their flagship's bridge. "Sorry, sirs," the young man said.

"It's quite all right," said Obi-Wan, who, Anakin could sense, was fairly pleased himself.

Such a pattern was being repeated all around the Imisasi system. Anakin looked at _Starlight_'s tactical viewscreen, on which more and more of the yellow dots representing Separatist spaceships winked out every minute, eradicated by the sea of green that was the Republic's 3rd Battalion.

Like any other Republic battalion, the 3rd was made up of organisations from both the Republic Starfleet and the Grand Army of the Republic, but it was the Republic Starfleet people who were fighting now, and it was they who were particularly vengeful. The Republic 3rd hadn't planned to fight the Separatist 198th; they'd only been in Larrell to pick up new crewmen for their newest _Magnificence_-class battleships.

Those new recruits from Larrell were now fighting the enemies who'd gleefully bombarded one of their planets, murdering all its billions of inhabitants, just to destroy a Republic shipyard there. It was hard to imagine anyone who'd be more motivated to kill these Separatists.

_To kill these Separatists._ Anakin knew that motivation well, for it was his own: he would slaughter all the Separatist scum and he'd feel no remorse for it. He'd sworn that to himself as soon as he'd learnt that they'd tried to kill Padmé.

"Commander Nillair," Obi-Wan said to _Starlight_'s chief communications officer, "how thick is the enemy electronic jamming?" He was looking at an enemy High Fleet—eighty battleships, plus the star destroyers escorting them—that was trying to flee from the 3rd Battalion's anti-hyperspatial fields.

"Fairly tough," said Nillair. "We might get a short, simple message through, but nothing audio or visual, and even then it'll be hit-and-miss."

"Send a message to the battleship _Union_," Obi-Wan ordered. "Tell Great Admiral Penton the following: 'Enemy HF trying escape. You in best position destroy them.' Give him the coordinates '501, 826, 431'."

"Yes—" Nillair began, but before he could say "sir" or try to send the message, the display on the tactical viewscreen shifted. Penton's Great Fleet, the 24th Great Fleet, had switched all its fire to the fleeing High Fleet, pummelling it with streaks of deadly blue light. Already the yellow dots representing the Separatist vessels were vanishing, dozens at a time, under the storm of Republic turbolaser fire.

"Good initiative," said Obi-Wan, masking the surprise that Anakin could sense that he felt. Neither Obi-Wan nor he would not have expected it from Penton.

"Sirs," said Commander Farrel, the chief sensors officer, looking up at the two Battle-Generals, who turned to see her, "we're detecting a bizarre hyperspatial link between the enemy ships' reactors. We don't know what it is, but the energy levels are incredibly high, and they're still rising—"

"Are their anti-hyperspatial fields still active?" Captain Acquel Herleigh demanded of Commander Farrel.

"Yes, sir, stronger than—" she began to reply.

Suddenly the Force screamed out a warning. Anakin and Obi-Wan both stiffened. Something terrible was going to happen—the Force granted a degree of precognition which was very rarely wrong.

"Top priority message to the whole battalion," Obi-Wan ordered grimly to Nillair. "Turn off our own anti-hyperspatial fields and retreat! All ships, pull back, and enter hyperspace as soon as you can!"

"I'm on it," Commander Nillair replied, typing rapidly at his computer.

As one, the Republic Starfleet crewmen put their efforts towards pulling back their starships. Fighters weren't proton fuel-powered, so their engines weren't strong enough to pull back far, so _Starlight_ used her tractor beams to pull as many of them as she could into her hangar bay; the little fighters rushed towards their mother-ships, suddenly desperately vulnerable.

"Top priority message to the whole battalion: drop shields and stop firing!" Obi-Wan barked at Nillair. "All power to engines!"

Nillair's fingers blurred over his keyboard to send the message as fast as he could, while _Starlight_'s chief gunnery, deflector-shield and helm officers chorused, "Yes, sir."

Virtually the whole crew of _Starlight_ moved to obey the Battle-General's orders like a well-oiled machine, as did the crew of every other Republic warship. Even those ships that had not received _Starlight_'s message due to electronic jamming realised what to do, based on the actions of the other Republic starships.

Republic crewmen from all parts of their spaceships worked feverishly. Huge proton reactors **[6]** funnelled tremendous energies into the desperate need to draw back.

All of a sudden, there was a tremendous burst of heat and light. As soon as the blinding light seared across Anakin's eyes he closed them, but even so his eyelids turned red inside. _Starlight_ was yanked forwards with extraordinary force.

Anakin now dared to open his eyes, and wished that he had not. The Republic ships were caught in a humongous, swirling vortex of hundreds of intertwining colours, swirling around him for millions of miles, like some sort of drug-induced hallucination. Two seconds later, a sudden wave of incomprehensible fury seemed to fall upon him, not the Dark Side of the Force but something else, something eldritch, something menacing.

Anakin instinctively filled himself with the Force, and felt Obi-Wan do the same simultaneously. As soothing and peaceful as ever, the Force banished the mad rage, permitting him to relax in dispassionate meditation.

Slowly, the young Jedi Knight dared to release the comforting glow of the Force; the strange anger did not return. _What was that?_ he thought, for he'd never felt anything like it before. Not even the Dark Side, when he was tempted to use it, felt so emotional, so wrathful and so overwhelming.

Putting these mystical thoughts to the back of his mind, Anakin saw the Republic 3rd Battalion and the remnants of the Separatist fleet (for most of the latter was gone) in an expanse of normal space: reliably jet-black and studded with glittering stars. If he'd been able to see through the bulk of _Starlight_ to the space behind it, he would have seen the vortex waver for a few seconds, contract into a single point, and vanish.

Breaking the stunned silence, via the inter-ship comlink, Obi-Wan ordered, "Fire."

With a single volley, the last few ships of the Separatist fleet were reduced to radioactive gas and scattered dust.

"Good job, people," said Captain Herleigh, and _Starlight_'s bridge crew gave a deafening cheer, thumping their bridge consoles with their fists.

Anakin paid no attention to the crewmen. Instead, he was looking around, seeing the stars in completely different patterns to those at Imisasi: patterns that he, who had travelled all over the galaxy fighting the Separatists, had never seen before. "Now, where in Hell are we?"

* * *

><p>1. In <em>Attack of the Clones<em>, Obi-Wan takes a one-day trip to Kamino, a planet in one of the _Star Wars_ galaxy's satellite galaxies (as can be seen on the map in the Jedi Archives scene). It's not much of a stretch to think that scientists might have visited there before.

2. If anyone's interested in how I believe the Republic, Separatist and Imperial militaries are structured, please PM me. It's too long to explain in a footnote here.

3. I'm referring to the mysterious 5,900m-long Imperial battleship seen at the Battle of Endor in _Return of the Jedi_. It's the right size to be slightly more powerful than a Trade Federation battleship (i.e. exactly the size that the Republic Starfleet would want for its own battleships), and the Republic must have had _some_ battleships, and we know from _Revenge of the Sith_ that the Empire took lots of Republic ships and repainted them in Imperial grey. My conclusion is obvious.

4. This is an accurate description of naval warfare in the 19th century. It's also an accurate description of _Star Wars_ space warfare. Anyone who's interested in this, PM me—it would take far too long for me to explain here.

5. The Republic star destroyers seen in _Revenge of the Sith_ don't have a name in canon (the _Star Wars_ Expanded Universe isn't canon), so I made one up.

6. Please see Calculation 5(c) of 'Notes: Calculations' for the reason why I think that _Star Wars_ capital ship fuel is called proton fuel.


	3. Worlds Apart

**A/N: **Thank you very much to all those who are interested. I hope that this doesn't disappoint you. (By the way, please don't expect ordinary updates to be this fast—I just have an unusually free weekend.)

* * *

><p><span>Worlds Apart<span>

"Sirs," said Great Admiral Shl'vm Kr'ph, chief of naval staff for the 3rd Battalion, coming up behind the two Jedi Knights standing on the bridge of _Starlight_, "I have news."

Anakin and Obi-Wan turned to observe her. "Please tell it," said the latter, the senior of the two Battle-Generals.

"For a start, they've confirmed that we're outside our galaxy," said Kr'ph. That was hardly news—everyone had realised that by now—but in the strange voice that was inherent to her species, the en'nm continued, "More than that, we're outside our local cluster of galaxies. Many people have measured the star-patterns outside the home galaxy, and their data doesn't even faintly match up with the star patterns that we're now seeing, no matter which angle we simulate things from.

Worse, we're not picking up any transmissions through hyperspace. The best-case scenario is that this galaxy's inhabitants have technology that's somehow evolved beyond hyperspatial transmissions, but that's incredibly unlikely—hyperspatial technology has been unsurpassed in our galaxy for at least twenty-five millennia.

More likely is that they can't use hyperspace yet. Worst of all, this galaxy may not contain any life at all."

Anakin shivered. He dearly loved his wife Padmé, and he had other friends too whom he didn't want to miss, such as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who'd always been there for him.

"Do we have a way of getting back home through the anomaly that took us here?" asked Obi-Wan.

"I'm afraid not, General. The Separatists created channels through hyperspace with extremely high amounts of energy. These channels reacted with the black hole cluster at Imisasi, causing some bizarre chain reaction in hyperspace which my scientists are calling a 'wormhole'. Even if we somehow made another wormhole, we don't know how to make it go to the right galaxy.

Maybe there's a solution, but it would take a team of brilliant physicists to work anything out, and if I may speak frankly, sir, the Republic doesn't have the funds. It'd be cheaper for them to build a new battalion than to keep a wormhole open permanently."

"Then how long would it take us to get home, with ordinary hyperdrive?"

"We don't even know which direction to go in." Kr'ph concluded: "We're stuck here forever."

_Forever._

The thought was like a dagger through Anakin's heart. _Why did I join the armed forces? Why didn't I refuse, like so many other Jedi did? Why didn't I stay at home with my beloved wife, and live out all my life with her?_ _The Force knows I would've been happy to._

Partly, of course, it was that he'd simply never expected to be dumped into a different galaxy by some freak phenomenon. But it was duty that had called him away from Padmé, in order to defend the lofty democratic ideals which she'd always held so high.

And now… and now he'd never see her again.

Anakin turned back to Kr'ph and his former master. Only now did he realise that they'd remained silent while he was buried in his thoughts.

"Sorry, Master," he said quietly.

"I understand," said Obi-Wan, his eyes soft with sympathy. It must have been because of Anakin being away from all his friends—Obi-Wan could not have known about Padmé, or else he would have told the Jedi Council about it. He'd never keep quiet about such a thing for Anakin's sake; Anakin knew _that_.

"Great Admiral," Obi-Wan asked Kr'ph, "for a start, are we picking up any hyperspatial transmissions from any civilisation?"

"No," Kr'ph said.

"This galaxy does contain sapient life," he told Kr'ph with the calm yet absolute certainty of a Jedi Master, "but it doesn't appear that there are any truly advanced civilisations.

Commander Cody, dispatch our fighters on reconnaissance missions for every star-system within a thousand light-years of where we are now. I want the details of the orbits of all celestial bodies in each star-system: the chances of running into something are infinitesimal, but I don't want to take the risk. Also, and more importantly, have them take a look for any inhabited planets or signs of civilisation.

Make sure that none of them are seen—if they have a choice between remaining unseen and taking more measurements, they should choose to remain unseen. I don't want to upset the political situation in this galaxy unless I have to."

"Yes, sir," Commander-General Cody replied.

"Thank you, Cody. Our only objective in this new galaxy, for the moment, is survival. To that end, our prime concerns are food, proton fuel, tibanna gas and subatomically enhanced materials for spare parts**—**especially food. For food if nothing else, we'll _need_ an already-established colony. If we can unite with some of the locals, things will be much easier. Let's just hope that the locals are friendly."

Anakin began to daydream; logistics didn't interest him. He wondered how R2-D2, who was with him on _Starlight_, was doing, and the same for C-3PO, who was with Padmé.

_Padmé…_ The thought left an ache in his chest.

"Admiral," Obi-Wan droned on, "do you think it wise to have us go on two-thirds rations until further notice?"

"I'd say half rations," the en'nm Great Admiral said. "As a practical matter, we simply don't have a secure source of food; we need to conserve it as much as we can. That would include all of us, of course."

"I will, of course," Obi-Wan assured her. "Half rations, then, let's say."

_What are you doing now, I wonder, C-3PO…?_

"C-3PO!" Anakin interjected suddenly. Both Obi-Wan and Kr'ph turned to him. "Protocol droids," he explained. "We'll need them to talk with the locals."

"Yes, I suppose we will," said Obi-Wan thoughtfully. "Admiral, how many of them do we have?"

"Only whichever personal ones people have," said Kr'ph gloomily. "Nearly everyone in the home galaxy speaks Maphrian **[1]**; standard procedure doesn't make us bring translators."

"Well then," Obi-Wan sighed, "I suppose we'll have to make whichever protocol droids we do have make dictionaries of the local languages. Any questions, or objections to the current plan?"

"Yes, sir," Cody said. "How much should I tell people, and who should I tell?"

"As much or as little as you want to," said Obi-Wan. "None of it is classified; I leave it to your discretion. Anything else?"

Silence.

"Well, we should rest for the night—I'm not sure about everyone else, but _I've_ barely slept since two days ago, and it'll be better to act with a clear head. Once your report is complete, I'll convene a meeting of the four of us. Dismissed."

* * *

><p>From a gold-plated balcony overlooking the mile-long courtyard of an opulent marble mansion in the city of Midromenē, Planetary Governor Phyran Agnalius stared with dismay at a map depicting the tide of green xeno filth that was covering the planet Uvynaa, a feudal world on the outskirts of Segmentum Tempestus, the southernmost fifth of the Imperium of Man.<p>

The local Planetary Defence Force was resisting bravely. Armed with nothing but lasguns—and many of them didn't even have those—they fought the orks despite their lack of armour, with a single-minded determination to protect their homeworld. Yet the outcome of the battle was in no doubt. Despite the PDF's bravery, they could not resist the orks' significantly superior weaponry and overwhelmingly superior numbers. Already the orks had conquered one of Uvynaa's four continents, and they were swiftly expanding onto two others.

There had been no capital ships to defend the Uvyn system, just a few escorts. The Imperial Navy stationed its warships at the capital planet of each sector, only sending out taskforces when they were asked for. Astropaths had sent out psychic messages to Valinalia, the capital planet of Myrion Sector, but reinforcements would not arrive soon enough to save the Uvyn system.

In summary, humanity could not retain this planet.

Ever since the Great Crusade, the massive campaign that had reunited humanity under His Divine Majesty the God-Emperor of Mankind, humanity had always clashed with the orks at Myrion Sector. Sometimes the Imperium advanced, sometimes the orks. Tens of worlds were constantly lost to the orks and then retaken by the Imperial Guard, the Imperial Navy and an occasional company of loyalist Space Marines.

At its height in Myrion Sector, the Imperium of Man had held sixty-eight planets here. Now it only had twenty-three, soon to be one less than that.

The strategic explanation was that the Imperium no longer had the strength to defend Myrion Sector as vigorously as it had used to, due to a horrific double hit: the Thirteenth Black Crusade into the Imperium by the dreaded forces of Chaos, and the invasion of Hive Fleet Leviathan, the third and mightiest invasion force of the tyranids, a whole ecosystem of xeno monsters from outside the Milky Way. That had distracted crucial Imperial manpower from Segmentum Tempestus's orkish border. As a direct result, the orkish hordes had been advancing, bit by bit, until those xeno filth now stood upon the soil of Agnalius's planet.

Agnalius, however, had a different explanation for why the orks were here. _The peasants have displeased His Divine Majesty, and as a result He has chosen to punish them—to punish _them_, not me, who has been a faithful servant of the Emperor and His Imperium for all my life. I have devoted my life to the service of the Imperium. The flaw must lie in the peasants._

"My Lord **[2]**," said Agnalius's faithful servant Gern, "your ship has been prepared."

"Are my family aboard, together with their guard?"

"Yes, my Lord," said Gern. So Agnalius's wife, her children and his two-hundred mistresses (not _their_ children, of course—they were lower-class, the scum of the earth, and good riddance to them!) were aboard _Flamma Abluens_, Agnalius's personal _Overlord_-class battlecruiser.

"And our guard?"

"Yes, my Lord."

Planetary Governor Agnalius had arranged for his family to be protected by ten-thousand Planetary Defence Force soldiers whom he'd drafted away from the defence of the doomed planet so that they could be put to good use, guarding people who mattered.

The peasants, of course, didn't matter much.

"Excellent," said Agnalius. "Will they _never_ give up?" he added, glancing at the massive crowds of peasants roaring at him outside his palace, trying to enter it so that they could get aboard _Flamma Abluens_. The local Adeptus Arbites were obediently firing on the crowds, trying to clear them away, and yet they were _still_ trying to pollute Agnalius's ship with their scummy presence. _These peasants' persistence__ boggles the mind!_ the planetary governor thought.

"I'm not sure, my Lord," said Gern, after a moment's hesitation.

Agnalius laughed. "Good answer. How much food do we have?"

"Enough supplies for a few years on your own, my Lord."

"Good, good," hummed Agnalius, who'd ordered as much food as possible to be taken from the peasants. _They're all going to die, so they won't need it anyway—why not put it to good use?_ "And the noble families?"

The Agnalius family was one of the many noble families of Uvynaa. Much of the modern Imperium was ruled by aristocratic overlords, and had been since before the Great Crusade. The Agnalius family had had many rivalries with the other families. Planetary governorship was not hereditary on many feudal worlds; powerful Imperial officials, usually inquisitors or members of the Ecclesiarchy, handed it to the head of whichever noble family most impressed them. Therefore Agnalius had good reason to hold grudges against the other noble families.

But Agnalius would not just leave them to die. They were nobles, not filthy peasants—they deserved to live for centuries then die with proper honour in bed with their great-great-great-grandchildren around them, not to be killed by some xeno scum in the last gasp of an insignificant planet. It would be unspeakably cruel to leave them here, and Agnalius wasn't a sadistic man.

Therefore, much to the surprise of the other noble families, he'd ordered that they be given sanctuary on _Flamma Abluens_, which was currently at rest outside the palace.

One of Agnalius's fondest memories was the reaction to this by Lord Lientus Charibdus, his lifelong rival. The Charibdus family had ruled Uvynaa before Agnalius had been elevated to his current position by a visiting inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, so Charibdus had very good reason to hate Phyran Agnalius, yet he'd said, "Perhaps I misjudged you. You are a good man after all." Agnalius knew that he was not perfect, but it was a pleasant reminder of what he'd always liked to believe: that he was a good servant of His Divine Majesty.

Followed by Gern, Agnalius set off towards _Flamma Abluens_ at a leisurely pace, taking care to gaze longingly at each facet of the palatial home which he'd probably never see again. All that could be salvaged from it, such as most of the artwork, had been preserved, but everything else, such as the beautiful marble staircases, would be destroyed.

_O Emperor, why have you forsaken me?_ he wondered, over the unpleasant screaming of the crowds aside, begging to come on the ship (which had room enough for them all) and escape the doomed planet. Those filthy peasants really were getting loud; Agnalius barked an order at the Arbites, who launched another burst of automatic las-fire to ward the crowds away.

Agnalius boarded the ship, with Gern behind him. Once he gave the signal, the doors slammed shut, leaving the wretched, screaming crowds behind them on the lost planet. Agnalius took a few minutes to relax in his luxurious personal cabin. Then, as his wife and their children surrounded him, he commanded, "Lift-off!"

__Flamma Abluens__'s massive engines rumbled. Then the spaceship began to use up as much of her hydrogen fuel as she could, thus launching herself into the sky so ferociously that her fuel ripped most of the palace apart, together with the desperate peasants trying to enter it. That was Agnalius's final revenge; he'd destroy his palace, like his planet itself, before he let the xenos take it from him.

Within less than a minute, _Flamma Abluens_ had cleared the Uvynaean atmosphere. Had she been slower, the battle between her and the orkish ships in orbit would have been nasty, brutish and short.

As Agnalius's homeworld disappeared into the distance, his eldest son, six-year-old Adulus, asked, "We'll never go back, will we, Father?" with quiet dignity. He had been trained well.

"We shall," Phyran Agnalius vowed solemnly, while his personal battlecruiser began her long journey from the Uvyn system to Bakka, the capital of Segmentum Tempestus. "Someday, either we or our descendants shall occupy this planet again."

"For the Emperor," piped up Purity, his three-year-old daughter.

Agnalius smiled. "For the Emperor."

A day later, once _Flamma Abluens_ had made her way far enough away from the gravity of the star Uvyn, she leapt into the Warp, vanishing from realspace and abandoning Uvynaa to its fate.

* * *

><p>"So you're certain?"<p>

"Completely," said Commander-General Cody, the 3rd Battalion's chief of general staff. "The people of that planet are definitely human, and the invading barbarians—some kind of green alien species—are definitely trying to kill them and enslave whoever's left."

Clone troopers were supposed to be unemotional, but this was straining even their fabled passivity. "General," Cody appealed, "I can show you the photos. We can't stand by while billions of people are massacred; it's our duty as Republic officers to help them."

"I quite agree," Obi-Wan said. He walked over to his computer on the bridge, entered seven unrelated passwords, and quickly used the Force to move an internal component of it, so that it would not release the shower of blaster bolts that it had prepared for intruders.

Obi-Wan activated a programme which would send a loud, blaring alarm to wake up everybody in the 3rd Battalion.

"Commander Cody," the senior Battle-General ordered, "ready our legions for battle against an unspecified number of alien barbarians, attacking a human-populated planet that we're about to go to. They should be ready to fight as soon as we reach the planet. Once they're ready, inform Admiral Kr'ph. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," said Cody. That was the order he'd wanted all along.

"Admiral Kr'ph—" he managed to say the alien's barely pronounceable name— "at that point, you should go to the planet in question; prepare to confront the opposition that Commander Cody described. All right?"

"Yes, sir," Kr'ph said.

"Good," said Obi-Wan, turning away and beginning to meditate. He could sense the waves of violence in the future; yet he was heading towards it, not to dissolve it but to participate. Ever since the beginning of the Clone Wars, that had become disturbingly familiar.

Within an hour, Great Admiral Kr'ph informed Obi-Wan that her ships were ready. At the Jedi Master's order, seven-thousand Republic battleships flashed into hyperspace, where the stars blurred past them into a tunnel of scattered snowy light.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes:<strong>

1. This is my name for the predominant language in _Star Wars_.

2. I think that "my Lord" is the proper way to address an Imperial planetary governor. If this is wrong, please say so.


	4. Alien Invasion

Alien Invasion

Like daggers stabbing into the dark velvet heart of space, glittering metal triangles sprang like panthers out of hyperspace, seventy light-years away from where they'd started.

No sooner had the Republic 3rd Battalion arrived than the minds of the two Jedi Knights hissed in pain. The Force hung darkly over this world, full of the unmistakeable aura of death and suffering.

Anakin extended probing tendrils of willpower further than any other Jedi could, scanning the entire star-system with ease. This planet was clearly a farming world: it was full of fields of alien crops as well as common grass for a small number of farm animals, some mammals and others birds, with all of which he was unfamiliar. Yet the world had sapient inhabitants, and they weren't nearly so alien. Somehow, unbelievably yet unmistakeably, just as the fighters' reports had stated, they were _human_.

It was not a mistake. The senses granted by the Force didn't make mistakes, especially when dealing with life, which in a very real way _was_ the Force. Somehow, humanity existed hundreds of millions of light-years (or further) away from Coruscant, which everyone knew was the planet where the human species had evolved.

But this was not the Force's only revelation. Even before the younger of the Jedi Knights noticed his fellow humans, he felt the presence of sapient beings whose minds were a screeching cacophony of aggression and brutality. These barbarians were also in orbit, in thirty-four enormous starships far bigger than any ship that had ever existed in their own galaxy. All but one of these monstrosities were over three miles long, grossly out-massing the _Glory_-class star destroyers and almost as big as the _Magnificence_-class battleships. The last of them was five miles long, and made a _Magnificence_-class ship look like a dwarf.

Anakin withdrew the tendrils of his consciousness, revolted: it made him feel physically ill to touch the minds of those barbarians for any longer. Within milliseconds of detecting the barbarians, he knew exactly how the Republic would be greeted:

Huge, heavy projectiles erupted from the barbarian warships, which were already manoeuvring to surround the 3rd Battalion. Some were metal, some were rock, and _all_ were full of highly explosive warheads.

But there were thousands of _Glory_-class star destroyers for each barbarian warship, and that meant a _lot_ of automatic point-defences. The job of any destroyer was to take down unpredictable, manoeuvrable fighters; these solid projectiles, moving predictably in straight lines, were the perfect prey. The star destroyers shattered the projectiles immediately, and were so extremely numerous that not a single projectile got through.

In response, all seven-thousand _Magnificence_-class battleships simultaneously opened fire. Streaks of sapphire flame spat out of countless turbolaser turrets.

Fractions of a second later, with contemptuous ease, gargantuan explosions had turned all of the barbarian ships to radioactive gas.

Like tiny teeming insects, without having to be ordered to, Republic fighters left their mother-ships' hangar bays and eradicated the far outnumbered barbarian fighters. Not a single one of them had been destroyed by debris from the barbarian warships' destruction. There had been no solid debris: nothing larger than a grain of sand.

The barbarian fleet had aimed to conquer a single, poorly defended planet. A battalion was more suited to attacking thousands of planets. Thirty warships against over a hundred-thousand was no contest at all.

"Have you heard the word 'overkill'?" joked Captain Herleigh.

But the two Jedi Knights had stiffened. "Ask for status reports from all ships," ordered Obi-Wan.

Hearing this, a commsman pressed a button on his computer, opening a secure comlink connection to a Republic warship chosen at random. "This is _Starlight_. General Kenobi requests status reports from all ships."

That was standard practice, or else any enemy fleet would be able to identify the Republic flagship just by figuring out which ship the transmissions were coming from.

The _ad hoc_ communications ship would pass on the message to every warship in the 3rd Battalion. The starships would report to their commanding officers, and the data would go up and up the chain of command until all of it reached _Starlight_. From now on, it was out of their hands—though as for what "it" was, _Starlight_'s crew had no idea.

* * *

><p>Twenty seconds earlier, on the bridge of his <em>Glory<em>-class ship, Captain Menting Arnal of _Swift Blade_ said, "Gunners, pre—"

"_WAAAGH_!" came a huge bellow throughout the starship. Menting looked up; with a jolt of horror, he saw countless big green humanoids with sharp carnivorous teeth and blood-red eyes, covered with metal armour so bulky that it was amazing that they could bear its weight, and wielding huge guns and swords.

He'd spent his whole life foiling the many machinations of the Separatists, but this was the most terrifying thing that he'd ever seen.

"Oh _fuck_!" Menting swore, his mind immediately leaping to the correct conclusion. The barbarians couldn't possibly have launched troop transports to _Swift Blade_; her point defences would have shattered them immediately. Therefore they had to have some sort of teleportation technology.

Any Republic warship had a quarter of her volume devoted to troops areas—but those areas did not include the bridge, which was reserved for Republic Starfleet people, like Captain Arnal. Those people's idea of fighting was pressing buttons to manoeuvre and to fire a turbolaser or an ion cannon: they were not used to the blood and gore of ground combat.

The barbarians hesitated, surprised that there were no soldiers here, but it didn't take them long to reach a decision. "_WAAAGH_!" they roared, and fired in all directions as they charged towards the terrified bridge crew.

Menting desperately scrabbled for the right button on a communications console, gasping in shock and disgust as he nearly slipped over the intestines of its previous owner. "Help!" he sobbed into it. "Help!"

No help came within the minute that it took for the whole bridge crew to be torn apart.

* * *

><p>Fifth General Emtee was profoundly grateful that Commander-General Cody had told the entire 3rd Battalion to "get the fuck out of bed and get ready to march as soon as the Jedi tell you, or you'll fight in your pyjamas!" As a result, every clone trooper in the <em>Swift Blade<em> Hold had their weapons out and ready for battle.

Now that large numbers of angry barbarians had teleported onto the ship, this order of Cody's was proving useful as an (albeit unintended) precaution.

Thanks to it, the men of the _Swift Blade_ Hold _were_ ready to fight these barbarians—artillery and fighting vehicles out, blasters loaded, dirt and mud rubbed over their otherwise-white T2 armour **[1]**. They were just starting a few minutes sooner than they'd expected.

Of course, not all of the 146,000 troops aboard _Swift Blade _were in the same place. Even a mere _Glory_-class star destroyer was two thirds of a mile long, and it was not easy to cross two thirds of a mile in the face of such opposition.

Enemy fire poured into the gleaming body of a Lion medium walker **[2]** that Emtee and a team of clone troopers were hiding behind. When it dissipated, they leant around from the edge of the advancing heavy vehicle and fired their blasters—though those blasters were not doing as much good as the heavy machine blasters attached to the Lions and other armoured vehicles.

The clone troopers were killing the barbarians at an astonishing rate—but the barbarians were pouring into the troops area at an even higher rate, probably, Emtee realised with disgust, coming from the places where they'd just slaughtered the helpless Republic Starfleet people.

But the barbarians simply wouldn't _die_. It wasn't that the clone troopers' blasters were ineffective; they worked just fine at piercing barbarian flesh. Nor were there problems with aim, since all clone troopers had been genetically engineered and trained from birth to have superior accuracy and speed **[3]**.

It was that each limb seemed to be expendable for the monsters. They could literally lose an arm and a leg, and still keep fighting—in sharp contrast to battle droids, their usual opponents, who could be reliably killed with one blaster bolt.

As a result, the barbarians soon reached the shocked Republic infantry, firing wildly at the clones. Though it excelled against chemical, biological and radioactive weapons, T2 armour hadn't been designed to stop weapons fire (no armour known to the home galaxy _could_ stop blasters without being too heavy to wear, so why bother trying?), so many of the barbarians' bullets were fatal.

"_WAAAGH_!" roared the barbarians, holding their swords aloft.

Seeing such a charge, any normal human would have been scared on a deep, instinctive level. Not so the clone troopers; their sense of fear had been artificially diminished by the cloners of Kamino. Machine-blaster fire erupted from the Lions, slaughtering the barbarians in incredible numbers. Thousands of machine-blaster tripods added their firepower to the fray, each tripod manned by a heavy weapon team of two clone infantrymen.

Any other foe would have been demoralised. Not so these barbarians. In fact, the deaths of large numbers of their own kind (especially when combined with loud noise) seemed to delight them, and they promptly attacked again.

This time, the barbarians were ready for the Republic armoured vehicles. Everything in war could be counteracted, and Lion walkers, impressive as they were, were no exception. Barbarians tossed grenades at the mighty vehicles, which weren't protected by distance as they would be in any normal battle. Barbarian artillery and antitank guns fired at the Republic vehicles, trying to break the line that prevented the barbarians from slaughtering the clone troopers of the _Swift Blade_ Hold.

Everything was happening so _close_. Emtee had never before fought in a completely open area with practically no cover where all the combatants were so close together. It was unheard-of since no sane officer would get his men into such a situation, because in such situations men died very, very quickly—as was happening right now.

Espying a team of Republic infantrymen defending a nearby area with some communications consoles, Emtee yelled above the din of battle, "Men! This is the Fifth General! Guard that team at the comms consoles, and make sure they have time to figure out if any of the crew are still alive! I want to know if we can rescue any!"

"Yes, sir!" several dozen clone troopers shouted back, and passed the message over to comrades of theirs who, due to the din of battle, hadn't heard. Soon the clone troopers were forming a defensive perimeter around the people at the nearby communications consoles. Some enterprising officer even sent a Jaguar **[4]**, a floating heavy tank, to help. The gigantic, twenty-metre-long vehicle was too heavily armoured to be destroyed by anything short of heavy artillery; it tore its way through the barbarians like a knife through butter… plus a great deal of blood and guts.

Fifth General Emtee retreated to within the defensive perimeter. The programmed instincts of every clone trooper screamed at him to lead from the front and share the struggle with his men, and so indeed he would as soon as the defence was organised, but for now he'd have to re-establish the chain of command, which had been fragmented since the beginning of the battle.

"What results, Lieutenant?" he asked a clone who had taken charge of and added his men to the spontaneously formed communications team.

"We've found none alive, sir," said the clone First Lieutenant briskly. "I think we've—"

"Finished, sir! None alive!" yelled one of the _ad hoc_ commsmen, over the roar of guns and cries of the wounded and dying.

"Got it," said Emtee, his resolve hardening. The crewmen had been completely helpless; the barbarians would _pay_ for murdering them. "Contact the whole ship," he commanded the section of commsmen. "Tell everybody to get to communications consoles unless it's tactical suicide, and try to get everyone ranking major or above to a secure position, to establish command centres. I want the men on each floor to know who's senior-most on that floor, and when we can find out, I want to know which floors are most defensible. Tell them that if their floors are seriously indefensible, retreat through the lift to the nearest floor. Tell them to try to distribute armoured, artillery and infantry squadrons fairly evenly throughout the ship: priority goes to reinforcing the light infantry group."

Emtee was currently in the middle of the _Swift Blade_ Hold's only armoured group; that was why the Lions, Jaguars and other such useful vehicles were here. Here, he had fairly well-balanced forces, since a Republic 'armoured group' was not actually fully armoured; it was made up of three armoured brigades and two heavy infantry brigades.

But Emtee was well aware that other groups would not be doing well. For instance, his shiphold (just like every other shiphold in the Grand Army) had a light infantry group, and light infantry were _definitely_ not intended to work in densely packed environments with no cover and a great number of enemy vehicles and artillery. Unless he could reinforce them as soon as possible, they would get massacred.

Emtee took out his own datapad, which he carried with him at all times; all Grand Army NCOs and officers were equipped with datapads that also served as communicators. While his fingers, rough and callused from war, flickered over the touch-screen buttons, he said, "I'm making a spreadsheet to note down numbers and distribution of men on each floor. Tell the right people to report that to me."

Suddenly, one of the _ad hoc_ commsmen cried out loud, a metal slug embedded in his left leg. Due to the sheer volume of fire that the barbarians were pumping at the Lions surrounding the Fifth General's impromptu headquarters, a bullet had gone through a small hole between the legs of two Lions pressing together, and had hit the poor man; he would die of blood loss unless the wound was treated.

The Republic would have no knowledge of incoming aid; there were no inter-ship comlinks in this area. The only comlinks were there to help them disembark from _Swift Blade_ in good order. They'd have to fight grimly on with resolve, ignorant of when, or if, they were relieved. After all, for all that they knew, every other star destroyer in the 3rd Battalion might be full of barbarians too.

Unless…

"From here, if you go along that corridor," said Emtee to the comms First Lieutenant, "you'll be able to get to the bridge. Get a company to go that way; make sure they're given adequate cover." His eyes searched the area, where the battle was still raging on with no end in sight, as clone troopers and barbarians alike died in vast numbers. Pointing to a company of light infantry, he said, "Them lot look like they'll do well in that. Get them to split up into teams and try to lure the barbarians away from each other, if they're pursued at all. Get everyone else to try to stop too many barbarians from following them."

It would be a risky manoeuvre, but it was important to know the state of the battalion. If he was expecting reinforcements, Emtee would organise his troops in a different way to if he was expecting to have to _provide_ reinforcements to the rest of the 3rd Battalion when the barbarians were repelled from _Swift Blade_. Sadly, he'd have to stay safe for now; if he found out that the rest of the 3rd was safe, then he'd come, but at the moment the situation was too precarious for him to risk leading from the front.

_When _the barbarians were repelled from _Swift Blade_. _When_, not _if_. Fifth General Emtee was determined in that.

"Yes, sir," the First Lieutenant said, and began barking orders to his men, who in turn began shouting to the others. Certainly they _had_ holographic communicators in their pockets, but in the heat of a battle like this, anyone who stopped to pick up a holographic communicator would be shot.

That was why they were relying on the most primitive means of communication: shouting really loudly, and praying to the Force that no-one would overhear incorrectly and do something stupid.

Meanwhile, the _Swift Blade_ Hold's light infantry group fought valiantly, but they were neither trained nor equipped for this environment, and it showed. The barbarians held the doors, and were using them as choke-points to prevent Republic reinforcements from coming through. Often, Republic vehicles and artillery pieces would blow up a door which was being guarded by some barbarians, but the barbarians would just kill the clone troopers coming through and then re-establish the choke-point, continuing to place antitank guns and machine guns there.

The clone light infantrymen were dying in horrific numbers, horrifically quickly. Yet their valour was unshakeable. As always, clone troopers never deserted or fled; they just fought, and fought, and fought, and died.

The casualties were intense. Mercy was neither expected nor given by either side. Clone troopers and barbarians alike died in droves, victim to either the swords and guns and grenades and tanks and artillery pieces of the enemy, or the clones' blaster bolts and grenades; for the Republic light infantry had nothing else. Many of the clone troopers shot at barbarian bodies and at non-essential parts of _Swift Blade_, stirring up large clouds of dust and smoke **[5]** which blocked the barbarians' sight but which the clone troopers could see through with their helmets. **[6]** It was a good effort, but it wasn't good enough.

The other groups, including the heavy infantry group which had once been commanded by a certain Sixth General Emtee, was trying to get through to reinforce the beleaguered light infantry, but there were too many barbarians in the way. The barbarians were seizing more and more of the bridge, pushing back the humans trying, futilely, to resist them.

Sheer numbers were on the barbarians' side; for the barbarians, having teleported off a vessel much bigger than _Swift Blade_, were enormously numerous, and they were far tougher than battle droids. Though many of their bullets missed, it only took one bullet to kill a man, whereas these barbarians habitually took at least three blaster bolts to bring them down, often more, even if they were hit in the face **[7]**. They just refused to die.

What felt like hours later, the star destroyer _Gilded Wing_ managed to align herself next to _Swift Blade_, so that her troops could enter. New clone troopers from the _Gilded Wing_ Hold burst into the mêlée with their own blasters. The barbarians never faltered, still retaining their savage fury, but they could not resist the new Republic manpower. Using the calm, disciplined slaughter that was so characteristic of their kind, the clone troopers pushed the barbarians further and further towards the centre of the place where they had first teleported in. Even such superhuman toughness could not win when confronted with so superior numbers.

Soon the _Hand of Justice_ Hold entered the fray, and it was over five minutes later; the panting Emtee heard a deafening cheer as the last barbarian was slain.

During a further few minutes, Emtee managed to get through the press of his celebrating soldiers to a ship-wide comlink, from which he could order the clone troopers from _Gilded Wing_ and _Hand of Justice_ to return to their own starships. With so many men aboard, _Swift Blade_ barely had enough space for everybody to walk about on her.

_Swift Blade_ was left in desolation. Barbarian and human bodies littered the floors of its many levels. Weapons fire from both sides had damaged much of the star destroyer's interior, even ripping through the floor in several places.

The light infantry group was utterly destroyed; they'd quite literally died to the last man. The other groups had suffered horrendous casualties, but not as bad as the light infantry.

"How many?" Emtee wearily enquired from his friend Sixth General Reddie, who'd replaced him as commanding officer of his old group eight months ago.

"A hundred and ten-thousand for us, sir," he said grimly. "The other ships took few losses. The barbarians' losses were in the range of several hundred thousand, mostly incurred after the _Gilded Wing_ Hold reinforced us. This shiphold won't be battle-ready for a long time."

Fifth General Emtee didn't speak. _Almost all my men, killed in a half-an-hour engagement…_ Even though he hadn't known all of them, they all were his responsibility, his men, his friends.

For a long time Emtee stayed mute. Then he expressed a single thought, as fervently as anything in the universe:

"I hate this galaxy."

"Yeah," said Reddie. What else could he say?

* * *

><p>Directly after sending his message, the senior Battle-General stated, "It's time for us to begin our ground assault, Commander. People down there are dying, and we can help."<p>

People were dying on the boarded star destroyers, too. Obi-Wan could sense myriad deaths, both Republic and barbarian. The barbarian fatalities didn't pain him, but every Republic death felt like a knife to the throat.

"Yes, sir," said Cody. "What are your plans?"

Obi-Wan typed a command into his computer, and its screen depicted the Republic sensors' readings about the planet below as a two-dimensional image, with the attacking barbarians marked in blood-red (as Separatists) and the defending humans in forest-green (as Republic forces). The barbarians completely controlled the western continent, as well as about half of the northern and southern continents; there were no humans left in these areas. The eastern continent, which was home to most of the planet's people, was wholly green. The disputed area was in the northern and southern continents. The red border was fast advancing as the sensors took in more and more data, indicating the barbarians' swift progress.

"We'll land fairly far away from the battlefield," Obi-Wan said. "We'll have the advantage of numbers, but every man of ours is irreplaceable, so we can't afford to have our troops shot down as they're disembarking. For the same reason, I want to minimise casualties. To that end…"

The Jedi Master manipulated the keyboard. A white section overlaid the red, stopping uniformly eight-hundred miles away from the barbarian-human border.

Commander-General Cody was of course a military man; he understood immediately. "Proton torpedoes from orbit. Good plan, sir."

"Thank you, Cody," Obi-Wan said. "Our fighters will destroy most of the barbarians' territory. With that done, we'll send in Grand Army forces to each barbarian place: with such numbers, they don't stand a chance. Typical tactics: you know what to do. If they're foolish enough to try to escape by sea, we'll just bomb them into oblivion."

"Sounds like a plan, sir," said Cody. "I'll inform the men."

"Sirs," said a Republic Starfleet Lieutenant-Commander whose uniform showed that he was from _Starlight_'s sensor crew, "I have something to report." Obi-Wan sensed that he'd been waiting to speak for quite a while.

"Please tell it," said Obi-Wan.

"We've looked hard, sirs, and we can't detect any anomalous concentrations of neutrinos **[8]**. Every hyperdrive produces lots of those: it's unavoidable. No ship's ever entered or left hyperspace anywhere near this planet!"

Obi-Wan thought quickly. "They must use some other form of faster-than-light travel, probably the teleportation they used to board _Swift Blade_. Thank you, Commander," he said graciously, "that's very useful to know."

The Lieutenant-Commander grinned. "We aim to please, sir," he said, aiming a salute, and returned to his subordinates.

"The way I see it," Obi-Wan said, "this doesn't change our tactics much. Are we agreed?"

"Agreed," said Commander-General Cody. Anakin, who was neither interested nor talented in military planning, said nothing.

"One Jedi Knight will go down to lead the troops," said Obi-Wan. "As commanding officer of this battalion, that's my duty. Anakin, stay with _Starlight_ and make sure that our bombardment works. We can't let any of the barbarians survive."

It was easy to reconcile the ideology of the Republic with that. After all, the Republic preached equal rights for all sapient beings, but the barbarians weren't sapient; their only motivation was to kill. They were animals, albeit fairly smart ones.

"Once the enemy has been defeated," Obi-Wan continued, "you can come down, but we can't afford to lose both of our Jedi Knights if anything goes wrong, so stay here until then."

"Why don't I come down and you stay?" protested Anakin. "I'm better at fighting than you."

Obi-Wan did not deny this, but said, "No-one should order men to risk their lives in battle without risking his own. There are only two of us here, maybe only two Force-sensitives in this whole galaxy. Do you understand?" He stared at Anakin gravely. "_Don't_ come to fight."

Anakin glared back for two seconds, then lowered his head. "Yes, Master."

"Good," said Obi-Wan, and at the same time the spaceships swam smoothly into motion. Over a hundred-thousand _Glory_-class star destroyers approached the planet, leaving seven-thousand battleships (Republic battleships never carried troops) behind in orbit. Few people in their home galaxy had ever seen a fleet as enormous as this: a whole battalion that was going to war.

* * *

><p>1. This is the clone trooper armour that we see in <em>Revenge of the Sith<em>, in contrast to T1 armour, the clone trooper armour that we see in _Attack of the Clones_. It has no name in canon (the _Star Wars_ Expanded Universe isn't canon), so I've made one up.

2. This 15m-long, six-legged walker was seen fighting for the Republic in the Battle of Geonosis in _Attack of the Clones_ and in the Battle of Utapau in _Revenge of the Sith_. Its name—'Lion medium walker'—is just made up, since it doesn't have a name in canon.

3. This is genuinely true of clone troopers in canon, as seen in _Revenge of the Sith_, when they fire accurately from incredibly great distances. Obviously, the Galactic Empire's stormtroopers are a _very_ different story.

4. This 20m-long, floating tank was seen fighting for the Republic in the battle where clone troopers betrayed and murdered a bearded Jedi with a very tall head, in _Revenge of the Sith_. As with the Lion, the name 'Jaguar heavy tank' is made up.

5. In _A New Hope_, a stray shot from an ordinary blaster (Han's) blows up a large slab of concrete, so we know that blasters are capable of doing far, far more than stirring up smoke. For more data on blaster firepower, please PM me; I haven't yet put it into 'Notes: Calculations'.

6. In _Attack of the Clones_, clone troopers can fire through dust with uncanny accuracy. I don't _know_ that it's due to their helmets, but it's a reasonable assumption.

7. Orks can lose a head, then stick it back on afterwards.

8. Neutrinos are a real type of very small, subatomic particle, though I've obviously made up the idea that hyperdrives produce them.


	5. The War for Uvynaa

The War for Uvynaa

She hung among the other _Glory_-class star destroyers, motionless, in orbit: over a hundred-thousand sleek killing machines, striped with blood-red and refined by years of war. Nothing distinguished her equipment from her fellows—mechanically speaking, she was identical to them—and she was but one. What difference could she make?

And yet there was a difference. A flood of hyperspatial transmissions were going in between the star destroyers, a string of conversations started by just one:

The star destroyer _Starlight_ glided into her position with seamless grace, supremely confident in her own ability. She had nothing to fear here: not only was she leading a massive group of mighty spaceships, she also had powerful deflector-shields and fierce turbolasers.

"On your order, Battle-General," said Captain Herleigh of _Starlight_, standing on his ship's bridge.

"Given," Obi-Wan said.

"Yes, sir. Commander Lirry, commence the barrage."

"Yes, Cap'n. Gunners, 1% firepower. On my mark: three, two, one, fire!"

_Starlight_'s turbolasers split the Uvynaean sky. The streaks of sapphire lightning carved mile-deep craters into the earth and created titanic fireballs, obliterating every barbarian within three-hundred miles of their impact.

The barbarians didn't even try to run: they simply stood there, howling their endless defiance as death from above rained down upon them.

"General," said Cody, attracting the Jedi Master's attention, "all ten of our legions are entering the atmosphere. Are you taking back the order to fight here?"

"Not at all," said Obi-Wan, who through the Force could still feel the local people's pain and terror. "The die is cast."

The chief of general staff didn't hear what slipped, unbidden, as a whisper from his leader's mouth: "For better or for worse."

* * *

><p>On the orkish frontier in Yslanon, the southernmost continent of Uvynaa, Andy Erl of the Uvynaean PDF wasn't looking at the enormous fireballs still raging a few hundred miles away: the evidence that half the orks on Uvynaa had just been wiped out before his eyes. He was gazing adoringly at the heavens, where, he knew, a fleet of the Imperial Navy somehow lay, despite how long interstellar messages normally took to get through the tangled chains of government of the Imperium of Man.<p>

The men of the Planetary Defence Force had thought that there was no hope. All the noblemen had evidently agreed, since they'd fled with their families, their servants and most of the planet's food supplies, leaving their people to die at xeno hands. Yet somehow, due to the God-Emperor's will, Uvynaa was saved.

"Praise be to the Emperor," one of the soldiers breathed, and Andy and many of his comrades echoed the sentiment. The few seconds of shock then subsided, and both sides re-engaged in battle with renewed vigour: the orkish warband because they'd now have a better fight, and the humans because there was now hope of their survival. Despite being armed with nothing but weak flak armour and lasguns ("T-shirts" and "flashlights" in Imperial military slang), the humans continued to hold the line against their xeno enemies.

Andy himself frantically fired his lasgun, sending las-beams towards the orkish hordes. Often men beside him fell: flak armour was no protection against orkish bullets, just shrapnel. His legs and arms were sore and tired from many days of battling the xeno invaders with meagre rations in between, yet his hope gave him strength as he continued to fire away, knowing that his long, painful ordeal would soon be over.

Spaceships were becoming visible in the sky as they descended towards Uvynaa. Andy could see thousands upon thousands of them here, aligned in neat rows. Andy knew that out of them would spring the Imperial Guard, swarming the orks with superior numbers of infantry, tanks and artillery. _Thousands of starships!_ That would mean billions **[1]** of Imperial Guardsmen: the orks didn't stand a chance.

Andy threw back his head and laughed like a madman as he fired laser beams at the enemy. The war was as good as won. This was far, far too large a force to seize only one planet: it had to be a holy crusade to take over several _sectors_. He felt honoured merely standing in the presence of the Imperial Warmaster who stood on the bridge of a battleship far above him.

_But are these ships Imperial?_ As they drew yet closer, Andy saw that they weren't cylinders with numerous weapons and decorative ornaments protruding everywhere, like Imperial warships, whose appearance Andy knew from seeing the few escorts that had bravely fought here, and the accursed battlecruiser that had abandoned Uvynaa with the nobility. Instead, they were sleek, dagger-shaped, grey, red-striped triangles, with little to mar their smooth, plate-armoured surfaces.

The men grew dismayed. Morale, which had grown so sharply and so suddenly at the blue-bolt bombardment, sank. The xenos roared, tearing into the PDF with hails of crude metal. Everybody kept one eye towards the stars, where the mighty fleet was descending.

Suddenly, many millions of very swift, lightly armed airships shot out of the dagger-shaped spaceships, descending so fast that they were like a speeding meteorite, suddenly blocking out the sky. The aircraft swept over the battlefield, cutting swathes of death through the xenos' ranks. Roaring in their obscene violation of the Low Gothic tongue, the orks turned their anti-aircraft guns on the airships—but the newcomers had more aircraft than the warband had orks, let alone AA guns.

The airships swept closer to the ground, dodging the cumbersome AA guns. This allowed countless humanoid figures completely covered with armour (what colour was it? It was covered with so much mud that it was difficult to tell) to pour out of them, each holding a jet-black rifle. As the airships shot back up into the sky, the newcomers' soldiers opened fire against the orks. Countless bright red bolts—physical bolts of hot matter, not energy like lasgun beams—lashed out of the black guns like hailstones, striking and piercing orkish armour with stunning ease and extraordinary accuracy.

Others of these airships were dropping vast numbers of six-legged vehicles down from the sky: they were like tanks, except for using legs instead of caterpillar tracks. Orkish small arms fire bounced harmlessly off their bulky armour. The walkers strode with surprising speed towards the orks, with the newcomers' infantrymen sheltering behind them, in order to prevent themselves from being mown down by automatic fire from the orks. They had landed alongside the Planetary Defence Force, and with roars, the PDF advanced beside them.

His Divine Majesty seemed to be rewarding the Uvynaean PDF for their hard days of battle before this moment, as lots of the newcomers' infantrymen took off their helmets, showing the PDF that their faces were the same down to the last detail: handsome, black-haired, dark-brown-eyed, non-mutant and human. They weren't xenos, they were people.

_I should've known_, thought Andy. Everyone in the Imperium of Man knew that all xenos sought to eradicate humanity. It should have come as no surprise that their rescuers were human. If they were xenos or mutants, they would have sided with the orks.

The aircraft and their passengers were clearly the newcomers' first wave, but they definitely weren't the _only_ wave. Dropships were flying down from the distant spaceships, protected by patrols of three different types of fighters. The dropships shot down, accelerating as they did so, before decelerating even more sharply so that they didn't crush themselves against the ground. Then heavy metal flaps swung open, and gigantic war machines stampeded out of them.

There were more walkers: walkers of every size, of every role and of every description. Not just walkers, but also tanks: some of them with wheels, others casually floating as if it were the most natural thing in the world. More men: countless men in armour, advancing behind armoured spearheads. Also, massive artillery pieces were unloaded from the dropships, far behind everything else, but in several different places so that the orks couldn't hit it all in one place. The artillery fired again and again, ripping through the orks in bursts of deadly light.

The rescuers, as Andy had already started to think of them, butchered the orkish ranks on Yslanon _en masse_ with calm efficiency. Many orks fell for each newcomer infantryman who died, and with the rescuers beside them, PDF casualties also dropped dramatically. The orks tried to perform their dreaded charges on the new humans, but even their armoured vehicles were ripped to pieces by the newcomers' artillery and armour, leaving their infantrymen easy prey for automatic weapons. Their hot red bolts penetrated orkish armour far more easily than lasgun beams **[2]**. The newcomers' infantrymen didn't approach the orks for mêlée combat, where the orks held the advantage; instead they fired at a distance, taking cover behind their armoured vehicles and never allowing the orks to get close enough to nullify the advantage of their long-range weapons.

Andy hefted his lasgun and fired again and again. With new-found confidence, he and the rest of the PDF took up positions beside the rescuer infantry, though they were a tiny fraction of the human force: the rescuers came in massive numbers.

* * *

><p>As he dropped down from a still-flying Skyspear gunship <strong>[3]<strong> to the icy battlefield on the northern polar continent of this planet, Battle-General Obi-Wan Kenobi used the Force to resist the pull of gravity, slowing his fall. He was the only Republic man here who was descending in this manner, and also the only one who was wearing Jedi robes instead of mud-smeared T2 armour, distinguishing him from his men. Therefore he was immediately noticed. Many barbarians fired bullets at the solitary figure in the air—just as planned.

Smiling, the Jedi Master activated his lightsabre with a snap-hiss, and let the Force flow through both him and it. With the Force as his ally, he knew the bullets' trajectory even before they were fired, and so his azure blade darted around, channelling the Force to reflect the bullets back towards those who had fired them. Tens of barbarians were felled by their own weapons.

Guiding his own falling body with the Force, Obi-Wan made himself land right at the front lines of the battle at this area, where Republic armoured vehicles were serving as the tips of spearheads advancing against the overwhelmingly outnumbered barbarians. Immediately he was face-to-face with a hulking green monster with blood-red eyes, pointed yellow teeth, a massive gun and an equally large sword.

"_Waaagh_!" growled the barbarian, lunging at Obi-Wan with his sword. In return, the Jedi Master cast a sweeping blow with his cerulean lightsabre, expecting it to clash with the monster's weapon.

Orkish weapons were made of metal, held together by nothing except the orks' belief that they _should_ be held together. In contrast, a lightsabre blade was so superheated that it could cut through blast-doors, made out of the toughest known materials; the only known way to resist it was with another power-field **[4]**, such as Grievous's bodyguards' staffs, or another lightsabre.

By the fact that the ork was using a mêlée weapon, Obi-Wan assumed that the aforementioned weapon held a power-field. He was mistaken.

The lightsabre blade cut through the mere metal like a knife through butter. This didn't stop the two halves of the orkish choppa from moving towards Obi-Wan—and two big, sharp pieces of metal travelling at high velocity can kill a man just as easily as one larger, sharp piece of metal travelling at high velocity.

Obi-Wan leapt aside frantically, knocking over a clone trooper as he did so. Knowing that such a thing could kill the poor man, he used the Force to pull him up, while severing the nearest barbarian's legs with an inhumanly fast sweep of his lightsabre.

A new barbarian hurled another sword at Obi-Wan, so Obi-Wan had to grab the sword of a dead barbarian to block it: he needed something which would actually stop the incoming weapon from moving towards him, not just cut it in half while leaving it free to approach. He could have dodged, but that would leave the barbarian weapon free to fly into the clone troopers behind Obi-Wan, and he didn't want to waste his men's lives.

There was only one solution.

Obi-Wan advanced further into the barbarian ranks, his lightsabre becoming a deadly blue blur as it slashed through monster after monster. Soon the Jedi Council member was deep in the barbarians' lines, considerably ahead of his own men. The bearded Battle-General fought in every direction, striking down countless barbarians, yet his blood didn't sing with battle; his mind was clear, not full of ferocity. Instead, he held the calm serenity of a Jedi Knight, never savouring enemy deaths but acknowledging them as necessary. Such was the way of the Jedi Order. _Anger_, Obi-Wan recited to himself, _is a step on the path to the Dark Side._

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the blood-soaked fields of Yslanon, the once-doomed war turned into a rout. Seeing the orks be driven back by the vastly superior numbers, weapons and skill of the clone troopers, the Planetary Defence Force of Uvynaa advanced into the fray in solidarity with the Republic forces, fighting side by side.<p>

The clone troopers had many advantages in hardware and ability over the poorly equipped, poorly trained, inexperienced soldiers of the PDF, most of whom had been conscripted and had never fought a real battle before the start of the orkish invasion a few months ago. But those factors, though great in scope, were not the most decisive; the most decisive factor was _numbers_.

The Republic forces were a battalion: enough to attack a few thousand planets. To dispatch a whole battalion to any single planet (except, of course, Coruscant) was just overkill.

Due to ignorance of each other's languages, there was little tactical coordination between the two human forces, but the PDF, conscious that they were by far the weaker force in this partnership, tried to help the Republic's war-plan. It was an easy task: the clone troopers had more men on Uvynaa than the orks here had bullets, and that they wouldn't finish deploying men before the war was over. The PDF regiments incorporated themselves into the various super-units of the Republic; as a result, several (but far from all) Second Generals of the Grand Army found themselves unexpectedly commanding slightly larger forces than they normally did. They didn't issue actual _orders_ to the PDF men, due to the language barrier; instead, they led by example, ordering nearby Republic forces to perform whatever actions were tactically necessary, and counting on the PDF forces to imitate them.

The depth of gratitude towards the clone troopers was so overwhelming that very few men protested joining them in military activities. They were saving the whole planet. And while most of the PDF men knew that a single planet was insignificant in the vastness of the Milky Way, to them this planet was home; to them this planet _mattered_.

The PDF didn't have much to offer in terms of armoured and artillery support—they were just a PDF, not the Imperial Guard—and even in numbers of infantry they were outmatched by a factor of _hundreds_, but what they did have were fortifications. In many cases, tired PDF infantry positions just about to fall suddenly found themselves as centres of bold, artillery-backed advances against the enemy. The effect was an incredible boost in PDF morale.

The orks fought back with everything at their disposal, but the human tide could not be stopped by one orkish warband when they were in such great numbers. Within two further hours of fierce combat, humanity surrounded and destroyed the orks. As usual, the clone troopers offered for the orks to surrender; as they'd expected, the orks declined, so they killed them all.

Republic doctors had already set up camp far behind the human lines, to be safe from the fury of battle. Now that the War for Uvynaa was won, the clone troopers and the PDF put their wounded into military speeders and rushed them to the doctors, who dumped them in med-tanks which would heal all their wounds within a few days **[5]**, unless they were missing limbs. Other human soldiers began to dig graves for the many human dead. Still others, from both human sides, collected the orkish corpses and dumped them in huge piles, scavenging the armour for use as scrap metal. Then, with celebratory lasgun beams and blaster bolts, the human infantry ignited the fallen orks in great bonfires. They didn't deserve an honourable burial.

Finally, the victorious Uvynaean and Republic troops marched, mingling together, back towards Uvynaa's cities, where they were greeted with cries of joy and flowers stuffed into their guns. The Planetary Defence Force had thought that they would lose the planet today; instead, they'd won it.

* * *

><p>Eight-hundred light-years away, Warboss Bownz Naz Bluhdeetah glared at the cowering ork who had told him the news, purely out of habit. <em>Messengers exist to be shot<em>, went the orkish way of thinking.

"Yer mean Toandeff an' 'is warband lost?" Bownz repeated incredulously. "To dat buncha humiez? Sure?"

"Yep," said the Boy. "New humiez got dere outta nowhere an' killed 'em all. Really big fight."

This was a moral dilemma for Bownz. On the one hand, he had been preparing to launch an assault on a completely different planet. On the other hand…

_Really big fight_, he thought.

…orkish nature was coming into play.

"_Boyz_!" bellowed Bownz. "Da humiez beat up one of our warbandz on dat planet over dere. I iz biggest 'ere, an' I sez we show 'em don't mess wiv us! Get ready to _fight_!" The Warboss lifted his choppa high and beheaded the messenger, alien blood spurting in great gouts while sunlight played on the viciously serrated blade. "_Waaagh_!"

"_WAAAGH_!" roared the amassed orks: a battle-cry that spread across the whole continent and, eventually, beyond, covering the entire planet with the roars of the orkish tribe who called it home. "_WAAAGH_! _WAAAGH_!"

The tribe forced their gretchin to work quickly: the faster the gretchin worked, the sooner the orks could fight. Before long, the orks from this planet and the nearest three would have assembled their warships, some built by themselves, others captured from the Imperial Navy (after all the human occupants had been slaughtered, naturally—such was ork-kind).

A massive war had left millions of his underlings dead.

Therefore, naturally, Bownz Naz Bluhdeetah was coming to join in.

* * *

><p>1. The <em>Warhammer 40,000<em> core 5th Edition tells us, "The ship [the Imperial troopship _Emperor's Faithful_] is boarded then disappears, taking with it a complement of 5,000,000 Imperial Guardsmen and 200,000 men of the Imperial Navy." Since any assault on a typical planet containing several billion people would require tens of millions of troops, this is likely to be an _unusually small_ troopship—especially since the Imperial Guard would probably throw in ten times that number of troops, just to be sure.

2. Anyone who wants to hear my justification for this, please PM me; the explanation is too long to be put here, but I haven't got round to putting it into 'Notes: Calculations'.

3. I'm talking about the Republic gunships that launched surprise attacks on Geonosis in _Attack of the Clones_ and on Utapau in _Revenge of the Sith_. They don't have a name in canon (the _Star Wars_ Expanded Universe isn't canon), so I've chosen one for them: 'Skyspear gunships'.

4. Of course, the term 'power-field' is never mentioned in _Star Wars_; but it's obvious that Grievous's bodyguards' staffs are similar to lightsabres, and in the context of _Warhammer 40,000_, lightsabres bear many similarities to Power Swords and the like. In the context of a _Warhammer 40,000_-_Star Wars_ crossover, I think it sensible to suggest that lightsabre technology and power weapon technology are one and the same.

5. We see Luke being healed in a med-tank in _The Empire Strikes Back_. It's possible that these med-tanks weren't around in the prequel era, but I think it's likelier that the Republic would invent such a thing than the Empire.


	6. Infernal Energies

Infernal Energies

"I'm sorry, Lord Admiral," said Phyran Agnalius nervously, "but there's nothing I could have done."

Augeo Septavius glared back at the planetary governor, then sighed and closed his eyes. "I suppose not." Another planet lost to the orks—for Agnalius's report had left no doubt about the PDF's chances against the invading warband. He wouldn't lead Battlefleet Myrion to Uvynaa's relief: if he did, the orkish tribe that was attacking this sector would defeat him unless he took the bulk of Battlefleet Myrion away from Valinalia, in which case Warp Drive's slowness would prevent him from returning to Valinalia if necessary. If he lost his sector's capital planet to an orkish assault, his career would be gone—as well as, less importantly, the lives of hundreds of billions of people **[1]**.

Septavius was effectively the leader of Myrion Sector. The rightful sector governor had not lived here for several centuries: nowadays, he lived on Bakka, the capital planet of Segmentum Tempestus, where he could suck up to the Lord Tempestus, or 'engage in activities at court' as such was called in Imperial high society.

It hadn't always been this way. Once, the High Lords of Terra had cared enough about Myrion Sector to send an occasional crusade against the flood of green-skinned filth. But with Hive Fleet Leviathan and the Thirteenth Black Crusade to fight off, comparatively minor threats, like the orks on the southern border of Segmentum Tempestus, didn't register much, any more. Indeed, the Imperial Guard took more men out of Myrion Sector than it stationed there, and so the sector's defences were critically undermanned.

Valinalia was the hive world of which Septavius's personal flagship was now in orbit. _Conservationis Gladius_ was the pride of Battlefleet Myrion. There was another battleship here, _Oppugnatio_, but she was an _Emperor_-class vessel. In contrast, _Conservationis Gladius_ was one of the exceedingly rare _Apocalypse_-class battleships: the mightiest ship class in the Imperial Navy, though not the rarest. The _Apocalypse_ class's technology was more advanced than that of most Imperial warships, and like the _Retribution_ class it was devoted purely to direct firepower.

Many in the Adeptus Administratum disliked the idea that such a minor battlefleet should possess such a valuable ship. Septavius was determined to prove them wrong.

"There's nothing to be done about it now," the middle-aged Lord Admiral sighed. "Begone! May His Divine Majesty bless you with swift Warp currents at your back. Perhaps your appeal will gain the support we need from Lord Tempestus Arior on Bakka."

In truth, Septavius knew that the leader of Segmentum Tempestus would never care about the insignificant ramblings of a mere planetary governor. Not only was there a vast difference in status—after all, Segmentum Tempestus contained two-hundred-thousand planets, whereas Agnalius could no longer even claim to rule one—but Inosius Arior was personally an arrogant bastard, in the Lord Admiral's opinion. _However_, Septavius reasoned, _what harm is there in trying?_

"Thank you, Lord Admiral. Emperor bless you," said Agnalius, who was tactful enough not to interfere in a dispute between people who so far outranked him. He exited the room, though he wouldn't leave Valinalia immediately. At very best, it would take ten months to cross the ten-thousand light-years from here to Bakka (more likely a year and several months—at worst, five years), so he'd want to enjoy the Valinalian wine and whores before he set off.

Augeo Septavius escorted the older man out of his office aboard _Conservationis Gladius_. Soon Agnalius took a shuttle down to Valinalia's surface, later to make the long commute to Bakka. Meanwhile, Septavius walked to the bridge of his spaceship, soon escorted by an honour guard.

Septavius was staring listlessly out into space. The stars, only twenty-three (twenty-two, now) of which were under his authority, seemed to be mocking him with the knowledge that he'd never command anything greater than a sectoral battlefleet: he'd just be a bog-standard Lord Admiral, one out of over ten-thousand such Lords Admiral at this very moment and countless more in the ten-millennium-long history of His Divine Majesty's Imperium.

"Lord Admiral!" said a sharp voice over the vox. Septavius's attention snapped to it. The voice had held a tone of high-strung, held-back anxiety: the tone of battle.

"What is it?" he asked, almost too excitedly.

"A ship has appeared in realspace at the galactic-northern edge of this star-system. It's coming right towards us at a steady speed. We've examined it, and it's nothing like anything in our records."

_What fate!_ Truly His Divine Majesty had favoured him today: he would have the glory of unravelling this mystery. Augeo Septavius stalked towards his command seat, where he saw a picture of one tiny ship, considerably smaller than even an escort. She indeed looked nothing like an Imperial, orkish, eldar, Chaotic, tyranid, dark eldar or tau **[2]** vessel. She was an unassuming, grey-and-red-striped triangle with sleek armour plates.

"They're sending a message to every ship in the fleet!" reported someone else over the vox. "Should we play it?"

"Yes," said Septavius curtly, fully in command mode. His viewscreen now showed a dull, functional room in which two men stood, while flanked by several white-armoured soldiers. One of them was an exceptionally handsome man dressed in black robes with wavy hair: he was clearly very young. Another man, who appeared to be in his late thirties, wore simple, peasant-like brown robes, yet his face bore an expression of authority to which the others seemed to defer.

"Greetings, Imperial officer," said the brown-robed man calmly. The triangular warship decelerated smoothly to a stop, only a few light-seconds away from the Imperial fleet. "I am Battle-General Obi-Wan Kenobi, in command of the 3rd Battalion of the Galactic Republic. As you can see, we are human, and we mean you no harm. Please surrender and all bloodshed will be avoided."

"Point all guns towards the place where she first appeared. They're expecting reinforcements," Septavius ordered, and the technical servitors scrambled to obey. "Now record and transmit my reply: I am Lord Admiral Augeo Septavius, in command of Battlefleet Myrion of the Imperium of Man, and the armed forces of the Imperium _never_ surrender."

Septavius made a cutting signal, and the servitors stopped the transmission. Over a vox connection to every ship in Battlefleet Myrion, he began: "Fi—"

Then two things happened at once.

_Starlight_ vanished, reappearing under and behind the Imperial guns, which were already pointing towards the place where the star destroyer had first appeared. She must have made a Warp jump _inside_ a star's gravity well, which Septavius knew was impossible—

—and over a hundred-thousand Republic warships appeared out of nothing, beneath the Imperial battlefleet, with all their weapons pointed at the unprepared Imperial ships. They'd come not from the north but from the south, and they outnumbered the Imperial ships by over three-thousand to one.

While Battlefleet Myrion's salvo thundered uselessly northwards, azure bolts shot towards all the Imperial ships. Augeo Septavius only had time to think about how completely fooled he'd been, before blue lightning tore _Conservationis Gladius_ apart, engulfing the Lord Admiral in fire.

Battle-General Obi-Wan Kenobi grimaced as the genocidal dictatorship's fleet was reduced to dust before his eyes; no Jedi could ever be cut off from the Force, and so he felt every one of those deaths like a knife in the chest, even though he knew that they were necessary. The Imperial Navy's formidable armour gave them the advantage in spaceship quality, but as the saying went, quantity had a quality all of its own. Battlefleet Myrion's forty warships—for it was a smaller-than-average battlefleet—versus the 3rd Battalion's countless thousands was no battle, it was a slaughter.

Now that their victory in space was assured—for though only some of the Imperial capital ships were already lost, it was obvious that it would only be a matter of minutes before they all were—the Republic battalion could turn its attention to other matters. Only five battlecruisers, eight second-line cruisers and thirty-eight escorts had been left intact—but these, too, had not remained unharmed. The 3rd Battalion had struck them with ion cannons, knocking out all of their electronic systems. Their Void Shields had not been enough, since the ion cannons of all the star destroyers in the 3rd Battalion had been focusing completely on those fifty-one vessels, while the Republic battleships had blasted the other Imperial ships into oblivion.

Neither of the Imperial battleships had been allowed to survive; all the _Magnificence_-class battleships had combined their colossal firepower on those two battleships, to ensure that they were destroyed before they had a chance to fire back. They were far too dangerous to live.

The power systems of the ion cannon-struck ships were stopped dead, activating the automatic safety systems that shut down their plasma reactors, for fear of overload. This also shut down their engines, with catastrophic results, since many of them had been moving at the time. Four Imperial ships were destroyed in collisions with their comrades, much to the dismay of both sides. Most importantly, their weapons could no longer fire, due to being deprived of energy.

The star destroyers closed in on their helpless enemies, like sharks scenting blood and swimming through the silence of space, deadly, purposeful, moving in for the kill.

This part of the operation had never been in doubt. There had been seven-thousand _Magnificence_-class battleships against fewer than fifty Imperial warships. The difficult part would come next: to steal and reverse-engineer both the Void Shields and, more importantly, Imperial warships' incredibly impressive armour.

Obi-Wan had little hope that they'd succeed fully. Reverse-engineering was never a reliable process. A system as complex as Void Shields would never be learnt from scratch with such crude means. But Imperial starship armour was over two-hundred times as tough as its Republic counterpart. If the 3rd Battalion could give their starship armour even a hundredth of the toughness of Imperial armour, then that would more than double the strength of their own armour—drastically altering the balance of power in the Milky Way.

* * *

><p>Indrus Septavius opened his eyes. He'd closed them to mutter a prayer to the God-Emperor in preparation for his death, only to discover, much to his surprise, that he was not dead at all.<p>

But his mighty battlecruiser was in poor shape. The viewscreens had fizzled out, showing naught but static, and he could see Tech-priests frantically pressing buttons on the controls of the vox, futilely trying to make it work. Worst of all, his bionic throne, which allowed any Imperial captain to sense and modify all the systems of his ship **[3]**, appeared to have lost all its power.

"Nothing's functional, Captain," said Calianus, a distraught senior Tech-priest, not even looking at Septavius as he and his mechadendrites worked on trying to fix a gunnery control system. "The engines are down, the vox is down, the weapons are down, even the bloody reactor's down… I've never seen anything like this."

Then he reached a horrible conclusion, making his eyes widen with horror and his mechadendrites flail in agitation: "They must have murdered the Machine Spirits!"

"We can assume that we'll be receiving no help," said Commander Renarius Lemii, ignoring the angry Tech-priest. "The rest of the battlefleet is either disabled or dead—some ships were hit by the same bright red bolts that did this to us, and I definitely saw most of the fleet hit with blue bolts; the ships hit with blue bolts exploded." He hesitated. "Including _Gladius_."

"Father," Septavius whispered, the blood draining from his face. Clenching his fists, the young captain drew his Power Sword and said in a voice of steel, "The Republic won't get away with this. Their intention is clear—to board us."

He'd never imagined that he'd die so young, with so promising a career ahead of him. But he would do his duty to His Divine Majesty.

"Calianus," he ordered, his blue eyes bright with purpose, "overload the plasma reactor."

"We _can't_!" Calianus exclaimed. "The reactor isn't working—I did _tell_ you, everything's _down_, Captain! How am I supposed to cause a reactor overload when the reactor isn't producing any power at _all_?"

"Well then," said Septavius grimly, "we have no choice but to fight. We'll show those heretics the price of opposing His Divine Majesty's will!"

A ragged cheer came from the officers and enlisted men who were gathered on_ Crucesignata Sancta_'s bridge.

"How do we manage it?" cried the Tech-priest. "They outnumber us by thousands to one!"

"What else can we do, but fight?" Lemii interjected. "If we surrender, they'll kill us all—that's what we'd do to them, of course, it's only natural. In this situation, battle is our only hope, even though we'll almost certainly lose."

Septavius smiled sadly at his friend, who was, as ever, the voice of reason. "We can always hope, Ren. Officers," he barked in a voice of command, "go around the ship and rally the crew in preparation for boarding. Get out as much artillery as can fit in the corridors; destroy all the other artillery. Destroy as many key systems as you can—we can't blow up _Crucesignata_, but we can stop the bastards from taking the ship, if we fight well. All men to arms! If we do well, we might even be able to seize control of some Republic ships and escape!"

It was a vain hope. The heretical warships would probably board_ Crucesignata Sancta_ with transport ships, rather than approaching it themselves, for precisely that reason. Even if they somehow seized a thousand Republic starships, they would still be overwhelmed by the rest of the heretics' fleet.

_But hope is all we have._

Septavius himself hurried to the turbolift, approaching the top of the battlecruiser, with his Power Sword in his right hand **[4]** and a boltpistol in his left. He took up his station near the wall of the hull. _These heretics will come this far and no further!_

They waited. For half an hour, Captain Septavius and his several hundred troops stared at the wall of_ Crucesignata Sancta_, imagining that they could hear the explosives which, no doubt, were busily tearing a hole through the tens of metres of armour. They were not, of course, on the very top level of the 5,400m-long battlecruiser: there, the enemy's weapons would blow through the wall, pouring deadly pieces of debris down onto the defenders.

All of a sudden, there was an ear-splitting boom as a hole appeared in the wall. Septavius heard many other such noises, as the enemy was drilling through in various places. Immediately, shouting out a war-cry, he and his men raced towards the breach. They knew that they had to prevent the enemy from gaining a beach-head in_ Crucesignata Sancta_.

There was a gaping hole in the hull of the ship, completely covered by a squat, cubic vessel with a side-length of twenty metres **[5]**. There were similar scenes all over the Imperial battlecruiser. The same pattern repeated itself: soldiers who were dressed from head to toe in pristine white armour poured out of the transport ship. It seemed that each face of the cube could act as a door. Other transport ships attached themselves to the previous ones, sending more soldiers through.

A human wave of Imperial Naval soldiers smashed into the advancing enemies, with lasguns ripping holes in the spotless snow-white armour. The invisible beams **[6]** tore through human flesh like knives through butter, massacring the enemy in clouds of gore. The white-armoured men returned fire with deadly accuracy; it was as though they could see right through the huge amounts of metal dust from the ruined hull.

The Imperial troops tried to hold, but it was an open plain, and the enemy was too numerous. They retreated several times, relentlessly pursued by the huge numbers of white-armoured men who were _still_ coming out of their transport ships. _There are so many of them!_ _But we'll hold the line. The Imperium of Man never surrenders._

Nonetheless, despite the Imperial Naval men's fanatical resistance, their sheer numbers were forcing His Divine Majesty's soldiers to retreat.

When Septavius saw some servitors dragging a large autocannon through the corridors towards him, it felt like the most beautiful thing that he'd ever seen. He and his ten remaining companions—for there were no large pitched battles in the corridors of a spaceship—crouched behind it at a choke-point, preparing the heavy automatic weapon to fire. In this way, they might manage to repel large numbers of the enemy.

Sure enough, the white-armoured men approached him, running through the corridor—and the Imperial men opened fire.

Enormous numbers of flying bullets tore holes in the enemy's ranks. For the first time, the white-armoured men faltered in their advance, with gory bodies clogging up the corridor in front of them. Septavius's men cheered; it was a success at a time when they so desperately needed one.

Then an explosive grenade tore through the pile of corpses, and tens upon tens of white-armoured soldiers charged towards the autocannon. They were massacred in horrific numbers, but they still charged, with absolutely no regard for their individual lives. With steadily mounting horror, Indrus Septavius fired his boltpistol again and again, but there were simply too many, and even though so many of them were dying, they didn't care at all—they simply _didn't care at all_…

LCITMSKN, fresh from the cloning tanks of Kamino, stepped over the young man whom he'd just shot dead—he'd already run out of thermal detonators in similar situations. With no hesitation, he and four other clone troopers picked up the autocannon that had recently killed over sixty of them, and carried it towards the heart of the ship, for usage in the rest of the battle. They didn't even glance back at the dying bodies of their comrades, still littering the floor.

* * *

><p>Sky-blue light slashed through the necks of five Imperial soldiers clustering near the door to the battlecruiser's bridge. Battle-General Anakin Skywalker waded through a sea of enemies, leaving a trail of severed limbs and headless corpses. Through the Force he sensed an approaching lasgun beam coming from behind him, and without bothering to turn his head, he lifted his left hand and harmlessly absorbed it, much to the shock of the man who had fired it: unlike Obi-Wan, Anakin was strong enough in the Force to block small arms fire with his bare skin, without needing a lightsabre <strong>[7]<strong>.

Less than a minute later, Anakin stood alone in the middle of a wasteland of dead bodies. He reached out through the Force to speak **[8]** to his former master: _I'm entering the bridge._

Waiting neither for reinforcements nor for the elder Jedi Knight's reply, Anakin sprang through the door like a gazelle. Several lasgun beams and bullets shot at him, and he harmlessly redirected them with swift sweeps of his lightsabre. The Jedi prodigy performed a stunning, acrobatic flip through the air, blocking weapons fire as he did so. He landed in the middle of eight Imperial soldiers, who were promptly decapitated.

"It's never a good idea to lose your head in a fight," Anakin said in Low Gothic, having learnt the phrase especially for this occasion.

The Imperial troops growled incomprehensible words in that barbarous language of theirs, and attacked. Anakin spun around, killing enemies left and right. Some of them raised chainsaw-swords to defend themselves, but the lightsabre effortlessly sliced through the mere metal; the teeth were simply vaporised as soon as they made contact with the superheated blade.

All of a sudden, the young Jedi Knight's lightsabre bounced off something, and due to the ferocity of his swing it shot back with great force. Moving with his weapon, Anakin leapt backwards, landing next to a squad of Imperial soldiers and casually beheading them all without even turning to look at them, in a flick of his lightsabre reminiscent of swatting a fly. In front of him, a man with a cap was wielding a glowing sword. Anakin could Force-sense the man's fierce hatred of him.

The man with the cap began to shout in Low Gothic, gesturing threateningly with his sword as he strode towards Anakin. Anakin didn't understand much of that language but even if he hadn't been a Jedi, the man's facial expression would have told him all that he needed to know.

Anakin Skywalker bounded towards the Imperial swordsman with lightsabre extended. The man parried, as expected; immediately, so fast that his brilliant blue lightsabre became a blur, Anakin feinted down at the left side of the man's belly. The swordsman moved to parry again, but Anakin drew his lightsabre back upwards with inhuman speed, and then the dazzling blade cut the man from shoulder to hip.

Anakin stepped back as the two halves of his enemy fell to the floor, the swordsman's face still contorted with all-consuming hatred. In Low Gothic, he offered politely: "Would you like to surrender?"

Through the Force he sensed that they wanted to burn him at the stake and then dance on his grave.

"Oh well," he sighed, and sprang into another group of soldiers, his lightsabre a blur of biting blue. _At least I tried to keep them_ _alive_, he reassured himself_, and after all, I'm not the one who's fighting for a genocidal dictatorship._ The lightsabre parted flesh and armour as if it were empty air.

* * *

><p>"Thank you," said Obi-Wan, two hours later, on an inter-ship comlink connection to the whole 3rd Battalion, with his holographic face transmitted over thousands of light-years in milliseconds. "The badly damaged ships will stay here for future repairs. Begin Phase B."<p>

Phase A had been the defeat of the Imperial battlefleets, an idea which the 3rd Battalion hadn't liked but which they'd chosen anyway. They needed food to survive, and the Imperium would never have traded with them willingly. Other than conquest, their only option had been to serve a brutal, theocratic dictatorship that regularly murdered aliens for the "crime" of not being human. Over half of the Republic Starfleet people were aliens, so they couldn't serve the Imperium unless they betrayed their own comrades to be murdered by Imperial fanatics: an option that no Republic officer would ever accept.

Obi-Wan had already known that the two battles of Phase A would be easy. Each battle had consisted of over a hundred-thousand Republic warships with the element of surprise, versus fewer than a hundred enemy starships. Deliberately, Obi-Wan had picked an utterly unfair fight. The Republic could _never_ have lost those battles, even if they were led by a total incompetent.

Now the true contest would begin: how would things fare on the ground? There was only one way to find out—and if the Republic 3rd Battalion wanted to survive in this harsh new galaxy, they had to try it.

* * *

><p>1. The 5th Edition of <em>Warhammer 40,000<em> tells us, "Each hive world is home to many hundred billion citizens." Its usage of the word "each" proves that this applies to _every_ hive world.

2. I haven't forgotten the necrons: it's just that their very existence is a secret in the Imperium, so Septavius wouldn't know of their existence.

3. These thrones appear on Imperial starships in _Gaunt's Ghosts_.

4. In _Warhammer 40,000_ canon, Space Marines wield chainswords, which can cut Power Armour just fine. Since I don't want to write a curb-stomping story where Jedi go about merrily cutting Space Marines' swords and ripping them apart with ease, I'm changing things a bit. In the _Starlight_ universe, power weapons are much more common in the Imperium than in canon, and Power Armour is too strong to be cut by chainswords.

5. In _Star Wars_ canon, we never clearly see a boarding transport ship, though we know that they exist, judging by the opening scene of _A New Hope_. The shape of this one is just my guess.

6. In real life, light-beams _are_ invisible, though it's counter-intuitive. Have you ever seen a yellow line coming from the Sun to your eye? Everyone who has ever seen a real laser-pointer knows this.

7. Vader does this in Cloud City in _The Empire Strikes Back_. This adds further credence to my hypothesis that lightsabres don't block blaster bolts on their own, it's because the Jedi are channelling the Force through the lightsabres.

8. Luke does this to Leia in _The Empire Strikes Back_; later in the same film, Vader does it to him. However, this technique is only ever seen used between Force-sensitives.


	7. Wretched Hive

**A/N:** I'm very sorry for the ridiculously long wait. Writing like this is _so_ dependent on inspiration, and I simply haven't had much of that recently.

In case anyone cares about the technical details (and I suspect that most of you don't), you should know that the earlier chapters have been edited, since I've refined my calculations.

* * *

><p><span>Wretched Hive<span>

_It isn't day—but then, it never is._

_The slums have long since ceased resembling the long-lost civilisation that existed here so many thousand years ago. The last buildings are gone, ripped down by human hands or decayed by the unrelenting millennia. Billions of people live their nasty, brutish, short lives in shanty-towns that make a peasant's horse's stables look like palaces. Two crumbling, shit-smeared stone walls are a home; four, an extravagant luxury. Human beings eat and sleep amid their own filth, buzzing with insects and plague to make Nurgle proud._

_Nobody can give up the chance to have food, in the slums surrounding the giant, once-gleaming rockcrete-and-adamantium foundations that hold up Calictohive above here. Men have killed each other for a single packet of the mass-produced food doled out to the Lower Hivers by their lofty, uncaring overlords; more often, human beings thrive on garbage scraps, insects, often each other, and, when available, the corpses of the once-human mutants who wander up here from the hive-bottom and find themselves attacked by mobs whose hatred is the only thing they own._

_This is the Underhive—and a more wretched mass of billions has never been found. The rule of force substitutes rule of law. People work as slaves under others who have a working knife, or perhaps, if they're extremely rich, a lasgun. An ancient Terran king once boasted that a virgin and a pot of gold could go across his kingdom unmolested; here, either would be lucky to make fifty metres._

_Bright light is rare in the Underhive. Though there are often candles, soon sputtering out into the gloom, the only bright light is that of the occasional lasgun, and that of the torches brought here whenever the Redemptionist fanatics come down to seize and burn to death everyone who doesn't fit their view of the 'true human form'. As such, brightness is to be feared here, not welcomed. The Underhivers live perpetually in darkness._

_They're used to it. That's how it's been for the last ten-thousand years._

_The people are no prettier. Water's in no short supply, but most of it is greyish-brown and full of Emperor-knows-what from Calictohive's great factories. Sores, rashes and other signs of illness cover them, but there are no disabled people: the disabled never last more than a week in here. A nobleman in Calictohive's Spires might see two-hundred years; the average Underhiver won't reach forty._

_And yet, amid the excrement and brownish-yellow water and stinking smoke and all the other waste of Imperial civilisation, some Underhivers who have often had strange dreams and visions lift their heads and sniff, and _hope_…_

_…for_ change_ is in the air._

* * *

><p>The seething mass of buildings and humanity that was called Knestorhive was undergoing as peaceful a night as any night in a hive world could ever be said to be. Some of the Astropaths had been feeling strange recently, but to assuage their fears, Commodore Allimon Ontolus of the Imperial Navy had taken the <em>Mars<em>-class battlecruiser _Necatura_ to perform an exhaustive search of the Ciris system.

Any nearby vessel would have to leave the Warp at least a day's travel away from the planet Ciris Tertius itself; _Necatura_ had found no such vessel anywhere, nor had she even detected the tell-tale disturbance in the Warp indicating that a starship had recently engaged Warp Drive in or near the Ciris system. After hearing this, Planetary Governor Validine had declared the matter closed.

So they were rather surprised when five-hundred _Magnificence_-class battleships burst out of seemingly nowhere, right next to the planet itself, instantly obliterating poor _Necatura_ and the five _Sword_-class frigates escorting her; _Necatura_'s formidable armour made her individually superior to any Republic battleship **[1]**, but not even she could resist hundreds of them firing at her all at once

Simultaneously, over three-thousand star destroyers of the 232nd, 233rd and 234th High Fleets, each of them bearing a shiphold of clone troopers, erupted out of hyperspace and dived down towards Knestorhive, while other star destroyers attacked the other three minor hive cities on this planet.

As soon as the High Fleets left hyperspace, the 24th Legion's fighters were ready. A grand sortie of Republic interceptors soared out of their mother-ships' hangar bays, using their blaster-cannons to strike down every Imperial military aircraft (though not the civilian ones) in sight.

The Grand Army of the Republic's Spearnose interceptors **[2]** had an important advantage over their Cirissan PDF counterparts. More and more Cirissan aircraft, bombers and interceptors alike, were trying to launch themselves from the city into the sky, but the Republic fighters were already there in strength, and they could strike down the Imperial aircraft before they entered the free mobility of the sky.

Meanwhile, the Grand Army's Airfire bombers **[3]**, guarded by the Spearnoses, approached Knestorhive and dropped low-power proton torpedoes (since they didn't want to _destroy_ the city) onto its walls. The multi-megaton blasts opened great gashes in Knestorhive's walls, giving space for Skyspear gunships to get through.

* * *

><p>They waited. Infantrymen, walker crewmen, speeder pilots, fighter pilots and gunship pilots alike waited to begin battle on Ciris Tertius. The processed air aboard the star destroyer <em>Pacifier<em>, though no different from normal air, seemed thick, tense and unyielding. At any moment—any moment now—Commander-General Lemill of the 24th Legion would give the word, and then Fifth General Gandon would order them to disembark.

The clone troopers of the _Pacifier_ Hold had more reason to be nervous than most of their comrades, for they were an airborne shiphold. Only a quarter of the Grand Army's shipholds were airborne, and those men were first in any attack—and first to die if anything went wrong.

But among the younger clones, more recently taken from the great cloning vats of Kamino, there was no nervousness, no anxiety, no fear—no emotion whatsoever. Only among the eldest clones, who'd begun to learn what it was to be free, was there any concern about their own fate.

And then, in what seemed like no time at all, Fifth General Gandon barked over the comlink, "Go, go!"

Gandon's men didn't need telling twice. Over six-thousand Skyspear gunships burst out of _Pacifier_'s hangar bay, instantly accumulating seven groups of Grand Army fighters to guard them. Only one fighter group had come from _Pacifier_ herself, but a _Magnificence_-class battleships had over ninety times as many **[4]**, and those fighter-craft were helping the Republic forces.

Many of the gunships were carrying Lion medium walkers, preparing to put them down **[5]** inside Knestorhive. Private Elsen, the pilot of one such gunship, was acutely aware of how expensive his gunship, his Lion and its crew were, and of how much would be lost to the Republic—including his friends' lives—if he was shot down. The Grand Army's fighters would do their best to protect him, of course, but air superiority had not yet been achieved.

If the 232nd, 233rd and 234th Sub-Legions waited for air superiority before launching their airborne shipholds, the Cirissan PDF troops in Knestorhive would have time to man their defences. Commander-General Lemill couldn't allow that, so Elsen was guiding his powerful but ponderous Skyspear gunship through the middle of a fierce air battle between Grand Army aircraft and their Cirissan counterparts, while trying not to hit any of the millions of other gunships approaching the same city.

Needless to say, it was not an easy task.

Innumerable Skyspears were destroyed in that pandemonium; but as the Force's whim would have it, Elsen survived. With great relief, having already spotted one or two sections of infantry in one place, he entered one of the thousands of floors in the hive city, destroying an Imperial artillery piece (a deserted one: no-one was here) with a shot from one of his gunship's blaster-cannons.

Knestorhive's massive, towering walls, damaged as they were, were still full of vicious artillery and anti-aircraft (guns. If the Cirissan PDF defenders had had even a few hours of warning, all those guns would have been manned, ready to hold off an assault like this one. In those circumstances, the clone troopers would have been doomed.

But Commander-General Lemill, who was leading the first seven of the 24th Legion's sub-legions to liberate Ciris Tertius, was well aware of that. Therefore the Commander-General had decided to attack in the middle of the night, when the Cirissan PDF soldiers would be asleep, leaving only the night shift to guard the city.

As a result, what would have been an unwinnable battle for the Republic became very winnable indeed.

Elsen paused for precisely as long as it took for the mighty six-legged Lion to walk off his gunship. Then, offering a salute to First Lieutenant Bolsin, he flew away, trying to return to _Pacifier_. It was up to Bolsin now.

Twenty seconds later, a Lightning fighter's hellstrike missile reduced Elsen and his gunship to a ball of flame.

While the Lion's head commsman, Corporal Nelatt, reported their location to the _Pacifier_ Hold's staff, the medium walker advanced into Knestorhive. Soon they encountered a squad of bleary-eyed Cirissan soldiers making their way to the edges of the city in order to repel the clone troopers; a quick burst of machine-blaster fire from the walker's gunners took care of that.

Within ten minutes, the fifteen-metre-long walker passed the innermost of the built-in defences—defences which could have repelled the Republic forces, if only the Cirissan PDF troops in Knestorhive hadn't been caught by surprise in the middle of the night—and entered the dedicated residential areas of Knestorhive. They'd entered the Upper Hive, not the Hive Spires, so the Lion medium walker was barely small enough to fit in the streets; any larger vehicle wouldn't have fitted in.

That was why the 232nd to 234th Sub-Legions didn't _have_ any vehicles larger than a Lion; at Cody's order, all sub-legions fighting in hive cities had given away those heavy vehicles to other sub-legions, in exchange for increased numbers of things which _would_ fit: infantry, Owleye scout speeders **[6]**, Falcon assault speeders **[7]**, and of course Lion walkers.

The five-hundred-tonne **[8]** walker's journey through the hive city was constantly on edge. Its crew was always on the watch for Cirissan PDF troops who might have grenades or artillery. At one point, a great roar came from a house several hundred metres ahead on that street, and a big 13.2cm shell smashed into the Lion's armour. The Imperial troops manning the Basilisk that had fired prayed to the God-Emperor that the foul, heretical machine was dead…

…but the Lion was bigger than a Macharius, nearly as big as a Baneblade, so it had too much armour to be pierced by an earthshaker cannon. Multiple shells in the same place would have done it, but the men with that Basilisk would not get the chance. Bolsin's gunners swivelled their Lion's heavy blaster-cannon and let fly a superheated bolt that struck the house in which the Imperial Basilisk was hiding, turning the whole place into a fearsome flood of flame.

Some of the Imperial Guard's artillery was heavy enough to take down a Lion. But Ciris Tertius's Planetary Defence Force—a large network of gangs, shoddily armed and barely controlled by the Cirissan authorities—was decidedly _not_ the Imperial Guard.

"That's one dead snake," said the Lion's head gunner, Corporal Onder, with a great deal of satisfaction. The word 'snake' had originally been applied to the Separatists, in the sense of 'treacherous snake', but among the clone troopers in the Milky Way it had begun to mean _any_ enemy of the Republic, including the Imperium.

"Good shot," Bolsin praised. "Keep your eyes sharp for the enemy; we don't want to miss any snakes."

That, indeed, was the mission that their superiors had assigned to them: to make their way through the city, destroying any Cirissan PDF vehicles or artillery that they found. Commander-General Lemill had quickly realised that the Lion was too heavy to be taken down in one shot by most of what the PDF could throw at it, so he was using the 24th Legion's Lions as forward screens to destroy any Imperial organisations except infantry, who could hide in houses. The PDF infantry would be left to the clone infantry and to the Falcon assault speeders supporting them; the Falcons and infantrymen were following quite a way behind the six-legged Lions, securing and consolidating the ground gained by those heavily armed walkers.

The Grand Army's airborne shipholds—the Republic's closest thing to marines—had done their job well, deploying rapidly and driving the Cirissan PDF troops far enough from the walls for heavier forces to come in. Meanwhile, the other shipholds were sitting inside the star destroyers of the 232nd to 234th High Fleets, while their airborne companions fought and died below…

…for they were waiting.

Once he learnt that his fighters had achieved air superiority, Commander-General Lemill gave the long-awaited order. Large, ponderous dropships flew down from the star destroyers in orbit of Ciris Tertius; they landed, their great doors opened, and massive ramps sent over four-hundred-million clone troopers into the sprawling city.

* * *

><p>The mood at the 24th Legion's headquarters aboard the <em>Magnificence<em>-class battleship _Union_ was celebratory. The battles of the seven sub-legions deployed on Ciris Tertius were over; already, Republic light infantry were searching the liberated cities to track down any PDF survivors and hopefully persuade them to surrender.

_Union_ was filled with raucous celebrations. The hard-working staff officers who'd been coordinating the liberation of four hive cities were finally at rest; soon they'd have to prepare for the Battle of Calictohive, but for now that work was forgotten, so they could relax. A member of Commander-General Lemill's staff had somehow got his hands on several bottles of beer (the Force alone knew how), and the staff officers—all of them soldiers at heart—were happily proceeding to get drunk.

Lemill himself was standing aside from the party, where, he noticed with faint amusement, the normally austere Second General Olanill was dancing on the table. No doubt plenty of photographs would be taken… but all this merriment was not suited for Lemill, who knew and pondered what was yet to come.

"Sir?" It was his faithful chief of staff, First General Unton. "Our work's over for now, sir. Come on; you can let go for a little while."

"Over?" asked Lemill bitterly. "Don't be a fool, Unt; it doesn't become you. We took Knestorhive, Molishive, Phentahive and Lelaguihive with this surprise attack, but we couldn't get the big one. Calictohive still stands, even though it has more people and more industry than all four of the other cities on this planet put together, and we've given up the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on that city and its garrison of eight-million Guardsmen **[9]**, far better-trained and better-armed than any PDF. No, I wouldn't say the War for Ciris Tertius is _over_."

Unton knew his commanding officer well; he understood why Lemill was saying those things. "You made the right decision, sir. If we'd attacked Calictohive first, we wouldn't have been able to rout the defences in a surprise attack in one day, and the Imperium would have held the city. We _knew_ this, sir, when we decided it. You chose the right thing in difficult circumstances; you've done your duty well."

"Thank you," Lemill said quietly, overcome by that statement: _you've done your duty well_. To any clone trooper, that was the highest of all praise. "But my duty isn't wholly done until the dying's at an end, and this is _not_ the end. It isn't even the beginning of the end. The only thing it is, perhaps, is the end of the beginning."

* * *

><p>On the other side of the planet that humans called Ciris Tertius, there was a quite different meeting, which was now reaching its end. In an adamantium tower that reached high above Calictohive, a tall bald man, magnificently robed in royal blue silk of a kind so rare that a single thread cost more than most mansions, was leaning forward from a throne that had been made from a tank-sized diamond, heaved by starving plebeians out of deep, dark mines in the Tantialis system.<p>

Malistus Validine wanted none of it. But a certain level of glamour came with planetary governorship, and it was not as if he _hated_ his splendid surroundings—he just saw no use for them.

"It seems, then, Limeris," Validine mused, "that the best policy would be to man our artillery batteries immediately, but with the artillerymen on a rotating schedule, since it's highly unlikely that these heretics will have the strength to attack immediately—it'd be more sensible for them to consolidate their hold on the other cities before striking Calictohive. We should start laying minefields outside the city, and stationing guns in the natural landscape. Also, have all aircraft manned and ready to launch, but with the airmen on a rotating schedule, for the same reasons."

"Consider it done," said Field Marshal Limeris Incillanus, the official commanding officer of the Imperial Guard army group garrisoned on Ciris Tertius, and (as per Validine's orders) the unofficial head of the Cirissan Planetary Defence Force.

"Thank you. I'm immediately going to declare martial law in this city. All civilian traffic will be suspended, to facilitate the transportation of military vehicles, personnel and munitions across Calictohive."

Since Calictohive was six miles across in both directions and twenty-five miles tall **[10]**, this was definitely useful… which wasn't to say that the planetary governor had no ulterior motives.

"Would 'civilian traffic', by any chance, include the transportation of a certain inquisitor?" asked Incillanus, his eyes gleaming.

"It just might, Limeris, it just might," said Validine with a savage smile. Inquisitor Augustine Minavis of the Ordo Hereticus had surfaced straight after the arrival of the heretical fleet, showing papers saying that he'd been operating on Validine's planet for three years, without so much as a by-your-leave. The fact that he hadn't told the planetary governor of his presence was glaring—it meant that Validine was being investigated by His Divine Majesty's Inquisition. Validine didn't take kindly to that—he deserved better than some Ordo Hereticus witch-hunt, having served the Imperium for so long.

So this was a little bit of revenge.

"Their heavy walkers' resistance to PDF artillery gives these heretics such an advantage in urban combat that we need to stop them _before_ things get to that stage. Have all our infantry and tanks ready for combat inside the city, in case heretical troops enter through a breach in the walls. We need to keep them in mobile bases, where they can quickly respond to distress calls and cover any deployment of heretical troops inside Calictohive. There should also be some mobile artillery with them, to give us the heavy firepower needed to penetrate the armour of the heretics' heavy walkers. And, of course," he added, "there's our ace in the hole, to serve as a _special_ surprise for them."

"Sounds like a plan, my Lord," said the grinning Incillanus. "Slipping back into old ways?"

"You know me, Limeris," Validine declared impatiently, "I'm not a lord and never have been; 'sir' would be more appropriate, don't you think? From now on, I'm an _ex_-retired High Marshal of the Imperial Guard, and Emperor _damn_ me if I let these heretics get their hands on _my_ planet.

What are you waiting for?" he barked at the man who'd served with him in the Guard for over ninety years. "Get to it!"

With a wide smile, the Field Marshal replied, "Sir, yes, sir!"

* * *

><p>1. <em>Star Wars<em> capital ships tend to last for seconds or minutes in battle, once they've lost their shields. The energy generation capacity of the average _Star Wars_ capital ship (excluding _Executor_, for obvious reasons) is 19,500 exatons (please see the 'Results' section, at the bottom of 'Notes: Calculations'). In contrast, _Warhammer 40,000_ warships last for hours or even _days_ under continual bombardment, without shields. The energy generation capacity of the average Imperial Naval or Chaotic capital ship (since their technology is the same) is 3,200 exatons (again, please see the 'Results' section). The difference between a _Star Wars_ ship surviving for one minute (albeit against six times as much firepower) and a ship of the Imperium surviving for one day is a factor of 240.

2. We saw these interceptors in _Revenge of the Sith_, circling the _Glory_-class star destroyers surveying the construction of the first Death Star. Their name—'Spearnose'—is just made up, since they don't have a name in canon.

3. We saw the Republic's interceptors (the Spearnoses) and its bomber/interceptors (helping Anakin and Obi-Wan to reach Grievous's flagship) in _Revenge of the Sith_. It seems unlikely that they'd have no dedicated bombers, so, although we don't see Republic bombers in the films, they almost certainly exist. Think of them as being a cross between TIE Bombers (which we saw in _The Empire Strikes Back_) and the Republic fighters from _Revenge of the Sith_. The name 'Airfire' is, of course, made up.

4. This is speculation, based on the fact that a _Magnificence_-class battleship is over ninety times the size of a _Glory_-class star destroyer.

5. I haven't made this up; it happens in the Battle of Geonosis in _Attack of the Clones_ and the Battle of Utapau in _Revenge of the Sith_.

6. This one-man speeder was seen with the Grand Army of the Republic in the Battle of Kashyyyk in _Revenge of the Sith_. Its name—'Owleye scout speeder'—is just made up, since it doesn't have a name in canon. Owleyes are so small that they'd fit into even the narrowest roads.

7. This two-man speeder was seen fighting for the Grand Army in the Battle of Kashyyyk in _Revenge of the Sith_. Its name—'Falcon assault speeder'—is just made up, since it doesn't have a name in canon. Falcons are small enough to fit into most roads.

8. This approximate figure (500 metric tonnes) is derived from the approximate size of the main body of a Lion walker (15m × 5m × 5m), in comparison to real-life tanks. It's possible that _Star Wars_ armour is much heavier or much lighter than real-life armour, due to the advanced fictional technology in the _Star Wars_ galaxy, but you could use the "advanced technology" card to argue either way, and without any further data there's no reason to speculate in either direction.

9. The core 5th Edition of _Warhammer 40,000_ informs us that the hive world of Coronis Agathon has a garrison of ten-million men and a population of 120 billion people, and that the hive world of Minea has a garrison of two-million men and a population of 154 billion people. Presumably, the 'garrison' is an Imperial Guard garrison, with the PDF being much bigger—to defend a planet with such a large population, you'd need at least a few hundred million men. (Perhaps Coronis Agathon's PDF is perceived as being less experienced or has worse equipment, so more of the Imperial Guard is needed than on Minea.) Therefore we know that hive worlds' PDFs are supplemented by small Imperial Guard garrisons.

10. I derive the approximate shape of a hive city—essentially a thin, tall cone—from pictures. I worked out Calictohive's approximate size from what would be about right to hold 52 billion people in the cramped, overpopulated conditions that are described in numerous _Warhammer 40,000_ sources.


	8. On the Eve of War

**A/N:** Two important things to say today:

1. I've deleted the chapter _A Harsh Dawn_, since when I reread the whole story again I realised it was as boring as hell. It says a lot that I could transplant all the meaningful stuff about it into one short paragraph in _Infernal Energies_.

_2. __Starlight_ is written from the points of view of various characters. If a character says their opinion, it _doesn't_ necessarily mean that I agree. OK?

* * *

><p><span>On the Eve of War<span>

Sixteen shuttles crossed the deep blue sky and yellow sun of Uvynaa, their silvery wings splayed out to either side as they flew away. From where he stood outside Midromenē, Uvynaa's only city, Andy Erl could see the marble palace that had once belonged to Phyran Agnalius, its white walls gleaming in the sunlight—as well as the changes around it.

Within hours, Uvynaa had turned into a fortress-planet. Speeders and armoured fighting vehicles patrolled Midromenē, as well as countless T2-armoured clone troopers. Over eight_-__million_ Republic fighters flew in orbit and in the atmosphere of Uvynaa, ready to protect the planet from any foe.

Andy and several million other PDF troopers, now unarmed, were standing together near the tents where they now resided, overseen by a whole unit of Republic infantrymen. The clone troopers were trying to arrange the PDF men into groups from particular villages, so that they could go home. Within the several days since the 3rd Battalion **[1]** had arrived in the Uvyn system, this had met with great success; already, most of the PDF had been sent home in shuttles.

And at last the call came: "Dromford!"

Andy eagerly waved his hands in the air, trying to attract the attention of the shuttle pilot above him. The man saw him; several PDF men moved out of the way as the shuttle landed, sending out a ramp which Andy ascended to get in. The shuttle retracted the ramp and moved on to another group of Uvynaean soldiers.

"Andy!" yelled a familiar voice.

"Maynit!" Andy shouted back, hearing his neighbour. He ran up to him and they embraced. "I'm glad you made it out all right."

"Me too, for you," said Maynit with a smile. Unlike the twenty-two-year-old Andy, Maynit was thirty-eight: fairly elderly, by Uvynaean standards **[2]**. "Tordy isn't here yet, I'm afraid; but don't worry, he must have made it. He was guarding Agnalius's palace; he won't have seen any combat."

"Phew," Andy exhaled. His cousin Tordy was only thirteen; he wouldn't have been likely to survive battle. That hadn't stopped Planetary Governor Agnalius from drafting him, of course.

Tordy was so precious to Andy because he was his only family left; their parents had died of the typical diseases that came for elderly peasants in their forties, and neither of them had any siblings who'd survived the perilous first few months of peasants' lives.

"How's Kimman?" That was Maynit's son, aged sixteen.

"Alive!" said Maynit; with the planet in this nightmare, that was all that needed to be said.

"Great," said Andy, grinning. "Somehow, thanks be to the Emperor, it seems we all made it."

"So it does, lad; so it does."

War had not been kind to the PDF of Uvynaa; over half of Dromford's men had lost their lives upon the battlefield. It was truly remarkable that all four of them had lived.

"Last sweep, then we're off," the pilot called. Their shuttle approached the ground, lowering its ramp.

Several more Dromford men were greeted happily by the villagers, and Andy and Maynit pushed their way through to the ramp. "Tordy!" he cried. "Tordy!"

In silence, the shuttle's anti-gravity mechanisms hissed to life.

"_No_! _Wait_!" Andy shouted at the pilot. "You've missed someone! Tordy Erl's alive and he isn't aboard!"

The pilot, his face covered by the helmet of his armour, nonetheless looked down at some strange piece of technosorcery on his lap: a bit of metal where words (in foreign symbols) were appearing as Andy spoke. He pressed some buttons on the little machine, and more symbols appeared.

Reading off the symbols, he said in slow, halting Low Gothic: "I'm afraid he's passed on."

"He _hasn't_!" yelled Andy. "He was guarding the palace; he _didn't_ fight!"

The pilot pressed more buttons on the machine, his fingers so used to the motion that he didn't even have to look down at the buttons as he did so. "I'm sorry," he said at last, his voice low and honestly dismayed, "but your Mr Erl was one of those taken by Agnalius."

"_Taken_? What do you mean, taken?"

"Haven't you heard?" said the Grand Army pilot, sounding as surprised as Andy felt. "According to the records in Midromenē, Agnalius fled the planet, taking ten-thousand PDF soldiers in his warship with him; that's where your Mr Erl is."

A burning resolve lit itself in Andy's chest. "Where's that Emperor-damned bastard Agnalius now?"

"He'll be in the Warp," said the Republic pilot while he made his shuttle climb into the air and head for Dromford. "No Republic Starfleet ship can follow there."

But the man had ripped his cousin away from home, placed a lasgun in his hand ready to send him off as cannon fodder, and then kidnapped him from his homeworld. Andy couldn't_ just_ _accept_ that.

"Not forever," Andy swore. He remembered how he and his comrades in the Uvynaean PDF had been so certain that the orks would win; that certainty had been overthrown by the Republic, so why not this one? "Someday he'll be punished; he _will_. I vow it in the Emperor's name."

The pilot shot him a look full of pity, but Andy didn't care about his disbelief. He and Tordy might never be reunited, but someday, upon Agnalius, he would exact his vengeance.

* * *

><p>The dimness of the artificial light betrayed that it was evening in Knestorhive. Shadow like a carpet fell across the rows of dull and faded houses, mass-produced centuries or millennia ago.<p>

Six-foot-tall men strode through Melalectum Avenue, their cheap synthetic boots noisily tapping the floor. If not for the perfect unison in which they walked, they might have been PDF soldiers—but all their faces were identical.

First Lieutenant Bolsin and the crew of his Lion stopped at a bar, where there was an instant hush as one of the guests espied them. None of them were wearing their white T2 armour, but they did of course have guns: 3-setting blaster-pistols, which could fire stun-rings **[3]**, ordinary killing shots, or detonations big enough to turn concrete to vapour.

"A table for fourteen, mister barman," said Bolsin in Low Gothic, unable to disguise his thick Maphrian **[4]** accent.

"R-right away, sir," stammered the bartender, a portly, grey-bearded man in his early fifties, clearly noticing the pistols at their hips. As the clone troopers sat down peacefully at the designated table, the bar's clientèle visibly relaxed, and swiftly resumed talking about holovids, factory gossip and sporting events.

But there was still a certain tension there—for the most important news item at the moment was, of course, the Republic's occupation, and they could hardly discuss _that _in front of Republic soldiers.

"Beer, sirs?" asked the bar's sole server, a young brunette waitress timidly approaching them.

"No thanks, miss," Bolsin said. "We'll fight tomorrow; we can't drink tonight."

"Ah," the waitress stuttered, flushing, "I apologise, sirs, I meant no harm—"

"Don't you worry about it," Bolsin interrupted calmly. "Do you have a—" he summoned up a Maphrian-Low Gothic dictionary on his datapad— "menu?

Er, miss?"

The waitress had stopped dead, staring at the clone First Lieutenant's datapad. In the Lower Hive, where every amp was counted like gold dust, such a thing was very rare indeed.

"Y-yes, sir," she said after a few seconds' pause, barely recovering her composure. "I-I'll bring it to you now, sir."

"Thanks, miss," Bolsin said politely, inclining his head. With a final nervous look at Bolsin's men, the waitress walked away, her fear of them evidently soothed to some extent.

"Force," said Corporal Onder quietly, using Maphrian so the locals couldn't understand, "who would've known their lower classes don't even have _datapads_?"

"At least this isn't the Underhive," said Private Misten, who manned one of the Lion's guns. "From what I've heard, it's even worse there."

"Enough of that talk," Bolsin ordered. "It's doing no good for morale. Private Yarmer," he said to another of the gunners, "you deal."

"Yes, sir!"

Yarmer picked up a pre-shuffled set of cards and handed it out to them all. A friendly game of poker wouldn't relieve all concerns, but it would improve their mood somewhat.

Only somewhat, of course. There were fourteen people here, not fifteen as there should have been; none of the clones in this Lion crew could forget that.

The death of their Skyspear gunship pilot, Elsen, still weighed heavily on them all; and poor old Elsen wasn't the only trusted comrade who'd died in honourable service to democracy. But then again, hadn't that always been the way of war?

* * *

><p>"Nice place, yeah?" said Private Noal, looking around at the warzone in the Underhive. Cirissan corpses littered this area, riddled with machine-blaster bolts, burning away body parts and leaving behind cadavers barely recognisable as human. The floor was full of mud and blood and human waste; very few buildings, of any sort, remained here.<p>

But worst of all were the civilians. All of them were incredibly lean, on (or in some cases off) the edge of starvation, and many bore visible signs of plague. At first, they'd screamed and run away whenever they saw light—the only lights here were the ones the clone troopers brought with them. Then some of the braver ones had cautiously approached the clones, hoping for food, which the clone troopers promptly gave them from their own rations (while calling for emergency rations to be sent here from the Republic Starfleet ships in orbit).

Now there was a veritable _flood_ of these civilians, all rushing towards the clone troopers and begging for some food. It was simple stuff—chicken, pasta, rice, broccoli, carrots: no expensive fare—but the Underhivers looked at it as if it were the most precious thing they'd ever seen.

And even now, after the Imperial forces in Knestorhive had been defeated, a gigantic Lion walker stood guard on either side of the street. The Republic 3rd Battalion now knew from experience that Imperial soldiers had a tendency to attack these people, just for accepting aid from "heretics".

It made Private Glima _sick_.

"Lovely," said Glima dryly; gallows humour was a good way to avoid thinking about such horrors. How long had the people of the Underhive lived in this miserable state? Decades? Centuries? Millennia? To distract himself, he asked, "How'd things go?"

Private Noal shrugged his broad_, _T2-armoured shoulders_. _"Not bad," he said. "Pretty routine stuff; our team chased the thieves, stunned 'em and sent 'em to a holding cell." He shook his head. "I know that theft is bad, but I think they'll get a soft sentence and I don't blame the court-martials for that. They needed the food; I mean, just _look_ at this place."

There was a melancholy silence. Glima and Noal were fighting men; they'd seen the darkest, grubbiest pits of vice and wickedness in the home galaxy. But the contrast here in the Imperium was striking: their unit had entered Calictohive in the Hive Spires, which were full of incredibly opulent palaces where even the cutlery was made of platinum. Meanwhile, here in the Underhive…

…Well, even _slaves_ in the home galaxy lived in paradise, compared to this.

"What're you going to do after the Wars, Glima?"

"I think I'll go somewhere like Naboo," said Glima. "Y'know, they're offering for retired clone troopers to settle down there, and giving us grants to buy homes for ourselves? Maybe… maybe I can build a life for myself, there."

"I know," said Noal; it was nice to think that _some_ people actually cared about the clones, even if not many. "But d'you think we'll actually get home?"

"I trust Generals Kenobi and Skywalker," Glima said simply. "They've never led us wrong yet, no matter where we go. Y'remember the Minarian campaign? The Republic lost the 242nd Battalion out there, but _our_ Jedi Battle-Generals got the 3rd Battalion through intact. Ours are the best of all the Jedi—I know all the battalions say that, but with us it's true. I trust they'll get us home."

There was another silence, more comfortable this time, between the two infantrymen. They were from the same section, and they had fought beside each other for three years, far longer if one counted their time being trained together by the cloners of Kamino.

"Team Eleven!" came the familiar voice of Sergeant Tracten. "A Protector transport walker **[5]** bearing food for the Underhivers is approaching! We've been ordered to find it at the following coordinates—" he rattled off a string of numbers— "and escort it here!"

"Well, I've gotta go," said Glima, starting to jog to his team. "See you later if we both get out of this alive, huh?"

"Hope so," said Noal.

"May the Force be with you."

"And with you," his friend replied, and gave Glima one last wave.

Today they were escorting supply walkers full of food for starving civilians. Tomorrow they would be amidst the fire and steel of combat, beams and blaster bolts and bullets flying all around them, ready to free the people of Calictohive from the same vicious, uncaring empire which had the money to build lavish palaces and cathedrals in the Hive Spires whilst ignoring the misery of the Underhivers, keeping them out of sight and out of mind.

Tomorrow, five days after entering the Ciris system, the Republic's 24th Legion would go to war.

* * *

><p>Absolute blackness. Night beyond the conception of the human mind. In other words—the void of interstellar space.<p>

Then a burst of light disturbed the void, a flash of engine-fire; but somehow the light was _not_ light, it was _dark_, belonging to a darkness both ancient and powerful, and utterly inhuman.

The Chaotic Battle Barge _Sekhemra_ cruised towards the Ciris system, with tendrils of the Warp (which she had just left) hanging around her like some sort of grotesque corona. Several Strike Cruisers and dozens of Rapid Strike Vessels circled her like hyenas or vultures, ready to scavenge a predator's prey. Gazing into the blackness of space from a viewscreen on _Sekhemra_'s bridge, there stood the master of _Sekhemra_ and of her attendant vessels: a nine-foot-tall, winged and Power-Armoured monster: a Thousand Son too mutated by his patron god to be truthfully called 'human'.

"What news, then?" He spoke with a voice as smooth as silk that covered steel.

"Much changes," rasped his companion, who'd once been Brother-Sergeant Pelakios of the Thousand Sons and who now was… something else, entirely. "This star-system is a nexus in the celestial web: a place of plans, of paths, of possibilities."

"I asked for tactics, not theology," said the winged Chaos Champion, mildly and without anger. "I've divined much from the words of our god; I know who the Republic are, and why they and the Corpse-Emperor's deluded minions are so embroiled in war.

I ask you: What does our god wish to convey to me? By our unity in Tzeentch I bid you _speak_!"

And not-Pelakios answered, "He says this, Gladion Tenebris: light fights light behind light. Darkness lies in darkness, and yet so does light. Light and darkness must not meet in darkness, or else that would make a light that undoubtedly would _hurt_ the darkness. But swift as light is, darkness is swifter, and in the end the light will know the most terrible misery."

Not-Pelakios smiled on his ghastly face. "Fear not, Champion of Tzeentch, for all that changes changes as the Chaos God of Change has planned."

The Chaos Champion considered Tzeentch's riddle in silence. He turned away from the viewscreen and looked, with his eyes, at those whom he'd already perceived: rows and rows of soulless Rubric Marines, hundreds upon hundreds of them, empty suits of Power Armour ready to rain wrath on all who dared to stand against the Chaos Gods.

Then, suddenly, he spotted meaning; and malicious echoes filled _Sekhemra_ as Gladion Tenebris began to laugh.

* * *

><p>1. What I've been calling a "compound force" is actually called a "battalion", according to <em>Revenge of the Sith<em>. Obviously _Star Wars_ battalions are many, many times larger than real-life battalions, as we can see on-screen. This means that _Star Wars_ doesn't follow real-life ranking systems, so I've had to change a few names.

2. Uvynaa is a feudal world, so it has largely medieval standards of living. The low life expectancy is an extrapolation from those facts.

3. In the opening scene of _A New Hope_, an Imperial stormtrooper fires a blue ring from his blaster, which knocks Princess Leia unconscious.

4. Maphrian is the main language in _Star Wars_. In canon, it doesn't have a name (the _Star Wars_ Expanded Universe isn't canon), so I've made one up.

5. This 6m-tall, 15m-long, eight-legged walker was seen with the Grand Army of the Republic in the unknown forest where clone troopers betrayed and killed a female Jedi, in _Revenge of the Sith_. It doesn't have a name in canon (the _Star Wars_ Expanded Universe isn't canon) so I made one up.


	9. Operation Thunderstorm

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait. Inspiration has finally struck.

The second-last faction relevant to _Starlight_ is introduced here, the Battle of Calictohive begins, and so does the main plot.

{edit} It might interest you to know that the next chapter is titled "Ace in the Hole".

{edit} I'm willing to tolerate a lot of things, but Nazi references aren't one of them. So please, people (you know who you are), just don't.

* * *

><p><span>Operation Thunderstorm<span>

The Warp could never exactly be called 'peaceful'. It would be strange to say such a thing about an ever-changing maelstrom of psychic might, shaped and reshaped by the wild emotions of sapient beings in a grim dark galaxy where there was only war.

But however much peace it may have held, it certainly had less now.

First one, then two, then three armoured prows smashed their way into the Warp like a bunch of drunkards in a pub brawl, bludgeoning the boundaries of reality. The _Hammer_-class battlekroozers _Bluhdspilla_, _Bigg Smasha_ and _Humieskorcha_ came fully into view, bristling with heavy gunz and longer-range gunz batteries on both sides, their prows bearing bombardment cannons and fighters stored on the aft. And they were not the only ones.

The first to follow the trio of battlekroozers out of realspace were the dozens of Killkroozers: simple ships, armed only with gunz and heavy gunz, but that didn't make them any less effective. Then came the equally numerous Terrorships, which didn't look dangerous here in the Warp but which could send out floods of orkish fighters against anybody foolish enough to approach them.

Bringing up the rear were the orkish escorts, acting as a vanguard for their larger brethren. The _Onslaught_-class attack ships and _Savage_-class gunships were pointing straight forward, in order to launch their infamous head-on assaults; the _Ravager_-class attack ships were preparing to unleash their torpedoes; and the _Brute_-class ram ships were ready to perform suicide runs on any human vessel… or maybe an orkish one, if they felt the mood for friendly fire.

From the bridge of the battlekroozer _Humieskorcha_, Warboss Bownz Naz Bluhdeetah gazed at his tribe's battlefleet with satisfaction. A human might have guessed that he was feeling pride at how well his Mekboyz had constructed these vessels, or preparing plans for the battle ahead.

But Bownz was an ork, so he was thinking, _Ooh! Shooty. Letz go kill fingz!_

The Warboss lifted his Power Klaw, its power-field glittering around him, and he bellowed, "You redy to kill fingz, Boyz?"

"_WAAAGH_!" roared all the orks in this tribal fleet, in reply to their master. The word WAAAGH! was often used by orks and could mean many things, but for the moment Bownz was fairly certain that it translated to 'yes'.

"Den letz kill humiez!" Bownz yelled, and the tribe's noise redoubled.

Before he'd heard the messenger's news about his subordinate Warboss Toandeff, Bownz had built this fleet over several years to launch an assault on Tantia Secunda, one of the only two hive worlds of Myrion Sector that the orks hadn't already conquered. That would have been a good fight: there were lots of humans there. But now he had a new target: a much more promising target, with much larger numbers of humans, and only forty days away for a Warp Drive-propelled starship:

"All ships! Take da Boyz to Uvynaa!"

* * *

><p><em>The city's roads were planned in well-organised squares, each street exactly as thick and as deep as the next. There were no stone mansions and artistic gardens here, those were only for the richest of the rich; instead, each house was an identical structure designed thousands of years ago and built, not long after, from grey rockrete and gleaming steel. On the outskirts lay gigantic atmospheric processors, controlling every aspect of the local climate—or rather, what was left of it. In the 15th millennium, little of this world's once-thriving biosphere remained, poisoned by the products of the cities and replaced by lifeless hives of plastic and of metal.<em>

_That was not to say that the planet was dying. Humanity was thriving on this ball of rock; any terrestrial planet was so rich in metal that even nine-thousand of years of human civilisation hadn't yet come close to exhausting it all; in the grim dark future, its useful ores would all be gone, but that time was thousands of years away. The trains on their superconducting rails ran perfectly on time, plasma generators produced power in no short supply, the food was edible, the air clean and breathable, and the factories sent more and more metal to the Sol system every year, as the cities advanced against the natural environment of the planet. All of it was in working order._

_No, no-one objected to the functionality of it; it did its purpose. People objected to the purpose itself. Amid the teeming hundreds of billions of human drones fulfilling their jobs, voting in elections and going on with their unmemorable lives, there were some who dared to dream that they shouldn't succumb to this drudgery, that there could be more to life than endless labour. But these souls were a tiny minority on this dull industrial world of back-breaking work grinding on and on for all eternity: this world called Cthonia._

_Now, for the first time in millennia, those people had their chance._

_It wasn't the poor who were leaving; they couldn't afford it. Nor was it the rich, those painfully few, sheltered upper classes who lived in their mansions protected from their social inferiors by armies of security guards; why would they want to be gone? No, those departing were the middle classes, the white-collar workers and computer designers and middle managers, ready to ply their trades outside the Cthonic system, under an unfamiliar sun._

_The Warp-capable ship—what an observer would recognise as an early predecessor to the _Cobra_ class of destroyers—was immensely crowded, though soon they all would descend into a cryogenic sleep. The crowds of human life from all over the Cthonic system could barely fit inside her, so cramped were they, and the various families had never even met before, but already a strange comradeship was beginning to form between them. Whatever threats they'd come across, whatever alien horrors they'd encounter outside the millennia-old core systems of the Human Interstellar Confederation, they would face these threats together._

_In the near future, free from the oppressive rationing and over-regulation of the inner systems, these people would terraform a harsh and alien planet into a wide expanse of green and growing things under a lovely sun, lit with the laughter of happy children: a new life on a new world._

_That was what they eagerly awaited as the great grey shape glided up into the air, plasma power propelling it higher and higher, out of the Cthonic system, out of the old and familiar, and towards the distant stars._

—blink—

_An old woman sat on a marvellously crafted oaken bench: a woman who could have passed for human now, as she stood still, except her pointed ears, abnormally thin features, and slanted eyes. A book written in strange runes was in her arms and although she'd been studying it intently, now she was lost in thought, her head resting and her eyes dwelling absently on the fields, where occasionally a droid (an eldar automaton_, the observer's mind supplied him_)_,_ a construct of polymers and glittering metal, came across at tremendous speed to scythe the stalks of some blue, alien plant to collect in the harvest._

_The non-human woman stood, stretching, and turned around to gaze at what was behind her. It was a sculpture wrought of some strange shifting plastic, a huge winged reptile roaring and another such non-human biped riding it, his face fixed in a scowl of concentration._

_"Oh dear," she said, in some alien language that the observer somehow understood. She didn't move, but the Warp shifted by the thickness of a thought—he felt it—and a sliver of plastic grew in one of the large reptile's teeth, making it infinitesimally more jagged. "Much better."_

_Over the sky far above her there circled a warship: an elegant thing of shining metal and that same shifting plastic, made with smooth curves rather than harsh edges, and with wings, like many Republic ships from before the Clone Wars, built for beauty rather than mere utility. Aboard the ship, more such non-humans (_the observer suddenly knew, _eldar) walked around and issued orders; as they walked, a bizarre motion, it became clear that they were actually unrelated to humanity._

_In the ship's hold were tens of thousands of eldar warriors, dressed in brightly coloured, decorative armour, like the clones' white armour before they'd started smearing it with mud to camouflage themselves from the droid hordes of the Separatists. But they didn't seem to be at war; they laughed and joked and mingled with the crew, rather than sticking to their stations in preparation for some sudden enemy assault._

_And other such ships circled in the system, and in other star-systems far and wide away, overseeing an old empire that was yet still strong and sturdy, filled with trillions of eldar citizens who relaxed on their paradise planets and studied art or science or philosophy._

_The Eldar Empire was powerful and prosperous, and entirely ready for whatever the universe could throw at it, and it seemed that it would last forever._

The observer awoke, shivering, as he always did when he received a vision from the Force. Obi-Wan Kenobi sat up in his bed, breathing regularly to control himself, and soon he was calm and ready to ponder what he had seen.

The state in the first vision, the Human Interstellar Confederation, was probably a predecessor-state to the Imperium. Obi-Wan pitied those hopeful colonists, knowing that their civilisation would collapse and their descendants would be ruled by a barbarous totalitarian empire that murdered everyone who refused to worship its dictator as a god and slaughtered non-humans for the crime of being born. What, he wondered, would those pioneers exploring new star-systems think of the Imperium of Man? He doubted that it was the realisation of their optimistic dreams.

The second nation was more enigmatic. Yes, he understood that it was a powerful civilisation of psykers that was now presumably destroyed (or else it would be a prominent foe of the Imperium), and so he should learn that all things faded away, only the Force was truly permanent; but Obi-Wan already knew that. Why had the Force seen fit to show him that vision? Was there something special about this Eldar Empire that he needed to know?

Perhaps, then, he should go there, to its ruins—in which case he had to find out where it was. Obi-Wan went to a computer in his sleeping-quarters, logged on and opened an astrography program, where he could draw the star-patterns that he'd seen and thus find out where this empire was located—

—nothing.

He tried again; still nothing. The star-patterns had slipped entirely from his mind.

_That _is_ curious._ As a test, Obi-Wan tried what he'd seen from the other vision, from the first dream, namely Cthonia; there it worked perfectly. The Cthonic system, it seemed, was just a dozen light-years from the Sol system: an easy place to find. He could remember those star-patterns easily.

So why didn't he remember the star-patterns from his second vision? Why couldn't he find the Eldar Empire? Or perhaps it was more appropriate to ask: Why didn't the Force want him to?

* * *

><p>An eerie, otherworldly glow came from the psycho-plastic walls, filling the passages enclosed by them. Two tall creatures came through there, each flanked by dozens of armoured warriors. They had two legs, two arms and recognisable faces, but the way they moved—half-walk, half-glide—was utterly inhuman.<p>

"They are not as hopeless as you think they are," said one of them, whose Howling Banshee guards were dressed in jet-black and an off-white just like bone. "They are not Imperial; their circumstances are entirely different."

"Mon-keigh are mon-keigh, Farseer Ladhim Yavéla," sneered the other, whose more numerous Banshees wore white and green. "It is a flaw inherent to their species; like the Imperium, they think purely in the short term and are unable to grasp the subtleties of foresight. If we go through with your plan then we will just have warned the Ancient Enemy; we must, instead, strike fast and hard, and trust in eldar steel for victory."

"But it will not be victory," argued Yavéla. "You will have made a faction that knows nothing of us hate us bitterly. We all admire your protection of the Exodites on Asurénil, but this course of action will not take you to that end. If you follow this path, the extragalactic mon-keigh will be weakened but not by enough to prevent them from attacking Asurénil in vengeance, whereas if you warn their leaders of the tragedy then even if it still occurs they will regard the eldar species as friends rather than as enemies."

"They will always be our enemies," the male Farseer rebutted. "Both of us have foreseen their galaxy is cut off from the Warp, so it is obvious that they have no conception of gleaning the web of fate. These extragalactics will never trust your word over the protestations of one of their own."

"Not for the moment, Farseer Tyladrhas, but perhaps later. The plan that we discussed is far superior; if they believe you now then the problem is solved, and if they do not they will later and they will then regard our species with trust: a useful tool indeed for any eldar to manipulate."

"Mon-keigh will _never_ trust anyone who is not mon-keigh," Tyladrhas replied with absolute conviction, "which is why mon-keigh can never be trusted. Therefore we, with our superior knowledge, will make the choice instead. You fail to mention that if your plan fails, the Ancient Enemy's servants will be far less damaged than they will be if _my_ plan goes ahead."

"Biel-tan cannot destroy this armada of hundreds of battleships; you do not even approach the necessary numbers, even with _Night Lightning_. This plan is a needless waste of precious eldar lives: those of Biel-tan and also those of Asurénil."

"There is no victory without risk, Farseer Yavéla; with foresight and superior skill, a determined eldar can overcome any number of mon-keigh. The late Farseer Ulthran knew that, even if you do not, and it seems that Ulthwé has no competent replacement for him."

"This foresight is not just mine. The Farseers of Ulthwé are unanimous; we have all foreseen that this path leads your Craftworld's forces nowhere but to their destruction. Biel-tan and Asurénil alike would be best served by our suggestion. If nothing else I pray you wait for confirmation from Biel-tan's other Farseers, rather than charging ahead alone."

"It is not Ulthwé's place to interfere in the affairs of Biel-tan," Tyladrhas snapped back. "I've foreseen that Biel-tan will succeed in thus weakening the extragalactics. Do you have any new points to make? For if not, _Night Lightning_ is required to lead Biel-tan's fleet."

"Then I will leave your battleship," the female Farseer replied in cold courtesy, "and I pray to the living gods that you are right, for the eldar's sake." She stalked away to her shuttle, black-and-bone-clad Banshees trailing her like a tide of midnight.

* * *

><p>Calictohive: the biggest city on Ciris Tertius, and the only one left in Imperial hands. It looked like a gigantic cone, except that this cone—with its base the Lower Hive and its crown the Hive Spires—was home to over fifty-billion people, almost all of them living short lives in horrific squalor.<p>

Commander-General Lemill had conducted many sieges before, but never on a scale even remotely like this. Short of Coruscant, Calictohive was the biggest city he had ever _seen_, let alone laid siege to. He was used to sieges where he had a sub-unit or unit, or even a mighty super-unit of over twenty-million men. To fight over just one city with a whole _clone legion_ was—incredible. Bizarre. Insane.

But it was his duty, and Lemill always did his duty. So, acutely conscious of the countless men whose lives depended upon his decisions, he looked over the complicated maps that lay all around him, depicting what seemed like every _inch_ of Calictohive.

The city had anti-starship weapons, a well-trained army, good positions for its numerous artillery, and plenty of ammunition. The only way to get it was to advance over an open plain. This would be a bloodbath; every soldier in the 24th Legion knew it.

It would never stop a single clone from whole-heartedly doing his duty. Nothing ever had.

There was the beep of an electronic message coming to _Union_, Lemill's flagship, and then:

"Commander?" came the voice of First General Unton, his chief of staff. "That was the last confirmation: all Giantslayers are ready to go."

Lemill didn't hesitate a moment; he had to give the necessary broadcast. "All sub-units, this is your Commander-General. Begin Operation Thunderstorm."

* * *

><p>Calictohive's guns made constant booms as they fired against Lemill's legion. As soon as the 24th had gone more than a few miles from where they had been space-dropped, they'd entered the range of the artillery in the Hive Spires, at the top of the city, and as they'd steadily approached, more and more of the Imperial artillery had got the chance to fire—without taking any fire in return.<p>

For the Grand Army artillerymen surrounding Calictohive—the 24th Legion was too big to fit on just one side of the city, so they were encircling it a ring of steel—the top of the Hive Spires had long been visible over the horizon. And with energy weapons, what you could see you could shoot.

In many thousands of twelve-legged Giantslayer walkers **[1]**, everything had been prepared. Perfect aim had been triple-checked, recoil was ready to be dealt with, weapons had been fully charged…

Lemill finished the word "Thunderstorm"—and in perfect unison, they _all_ fired.

To the Imperials it looked as if a multi-mile-long wall of green had issued from the 24th's guns. A multitude of emerald beams, each as thick as a tree, surged towards the Imperial defences. Within fractions of a second they'd arrived, and when they arrived there was _devastation_.

A few Giantslayers could bring down a small starship **[2]**, and it showed. Each lance of green light struck like an atomic blast, _annihilating_ the battery of Imperial guns it had been aimed at. Each beam had the several seconds for which it lasted to carve deep gashes into the wall of the Hive Spires, sending a deadly rain of reinforced rockcrete down onto the rest of Calictohive below.

The towering Hive Spires shook under the force of the bombardment. Just as reeling crews tried to get their artillery under control, a few moments later the Giantslayers' cannons spoke again.

In Malistus Validine's command centre, they could feel the ground underneath them trembling with explosions and the collapse of buildings in the outer Hive Spires.

"We have to raise the energy field, my Lord!" cried a frightened PDF officer—like most of the PDF of any hive world, he'd originated as a crime boss. "_Fuck_ the plan, the Spires are the smallest and most fragile part of the city; they can't _take_ this kind of pounding!"

"Don't be a fool!" Validine snapped. "If we do that now, it'll block our artillery fire against the advancing armies and the city will be lost! This base is in the middle of the Spires; we might still survive. We'll just have to endure the heretics' artillery and stick to the plan."

"But this isn't _going_ as we planned!" the PDF officer protested. "We thought they'd target the Upper Hive to damage the rest of the city with debris, not right at the top! We thought they'd just want to put their own people in charge, take extra tax-money and leave the nobles to govern, not _destroy_ the nobles' government and do the work of setting up a new one!"

"You fucking idiot, this is _war_, you shouldn't _expect_ everything to go as planned!"

Without leaving the PDF officer a chance to reply, Validine turned to Field Marshal Incillanus. "Marshal, send some Guardsmen to take over a random house in the Lower Hive, guard it, and set up comms links to here, and then to as many of the bases as you can. Once you've got half of 'em, tell me and I'll begin heading to our new command base."

"Yes, sir!"

_BOOM!_

Another salvo from the Giantslayers had hit the Hive Spires, and this time one of the outer Spires had fallen, crashing down towards the Upper Hive, where it broke with a cataclysmic roar of sound. Validine's command centre quaked violently, dangerously close to collapse.

_Oh well._ The PDF buffoons who'd never fought a real war were terrified, but Validine and the other Guard officers had been shelled before on countless campaigns for the glory of the Emperor, and they'd lived through it then; they'd live through it again now.

* * *

><p>The walls of Calictohive loomed twenty-five miles high above them, its lofty profile like a sword piercing the clouds. In a way it <em>was<em> a weapon, for the hive city's walls were home to millions of earthshaker cannons, mortars of every kind, Manticore missile launchers, and automatic heavy bolters designed to slaughter massive numbers of infantrymen.

But to Squadron Leader Mebrin, all those were irrelevant. The truly terrifying weapons were the long-barrelled autocannons, the same sort as a Hydra flak tank's main gun, ready to spit explosive flak at Republic fighters like his own.

The Spearnose interceptors of Hawk Squadron darted through the rapidly forming mêlée, their white wings gleaming in the moonlight as they tried to take down Imperial aircraft. Other Spearnose squadrons were busy protecting the Airfire bombers that were weakening Calictohive's defences, but not the Hawks—they were tasked with hunting down the aeroplanes of the Imperium, in order to protect the Republic tanks and walkers advancing on the ground.

"Thun' on your tail, Seven!" Mebrin warned over the comm, seeing a Thunderbolt heavy fighter approaching his squadron-mate. Hawk Seven, or rather Second Lieutenant Golben, swerved out of the way of the Imperial interceptor just in time, as its autocannons filled the air he had just occupied with what looked like enough metal to build a small tank.

Golben's wingman struck back immediately; bolts of green light streaked from Second Lieutenant Hallan's blaster-cannons, well-aimed, and hit their mark: the left side of the Thunderbolt. The big Imperial fighter swerved desperately back towards Calictohive, trailing smoke from burning prometheum, battered but not beaten, its pilot's life saved by its armour. Hallan's Spearnose moved to pursue it—

"Let it go, Eight," Mebrin snapped. "Don't leave Hawk Seven."

"Copy, Hawk Leader," said Hallan abashedly. _He's a good lad_, Mebrin thought, _lots of promise, but fucking green as grass. Got too excited and nearly lost his wingman in a mêlée!_

"'Venge over there, Leader!" hollered his own wingman, First Lieutenant Talpin. "It's aiming for a Jaguar!" A Jaguar **[3]** was a powerful, floating tank that the 24th couldn't afford to lose.

"Hawks, _chase_!" Mebrin barked. His seven squadron-mates came rushing after him as he yanked his joystick forward; Mebrin rushed at the offending Avenger strike fighter, seeming completely single-minded. Of course, he wasn't; in a night-battle like this, where the sky was only lit by a dim moon and the fiery deaths of other men, being single-minded would just make him fodder for the weapons of other Imperial aircraft, or for misaimed fire streaking across the sky.

The pilot of the Avenger realised that he was being pursued. He twisted wildly in all directions while firing a stream of lead from the heavy stubber on his aeroplane's back, forcing the Hawks to swerve away from the deadly rain; the price of the Spearnose's fantastic manoeuvrability was that it didn't have enough armour to survive such an assault.

Mebrin managed to escape. Poor Hallan wasn't so lucky; while dodging the Avenger's bullets, he flew into a blaster-cannon bolt crossing the sky, and the green streak ripped his interceptor apart in a flash of fire.

The Avenger was undamaged.

Squadron Leader Mebrin gritted his teeth. "Hawks, ball him," he snarled.

His squadron hurried eagerly to form a 'ball' formation, attacking from all sides. The Avenger, which was nearly ready to skewer the Jaguar with its automatic bolt cannon, couldn't keep track of them all at once. Its desperate pilot fired lascannon beams into the air but hit none of the Hawks. Mebrin felt savage satisfaction when Talpin hit it with a blaster bolt from above and the momentum drove it to crash onto the ground below.

Then First Lieutenant Fumber shouted, "_Lightnings_!"

He was right; an enemy squadron of Lightning interceptors had arrived. Too late to save the strike fighter, they decided to avenge it. Only Fumber's upward glance saved Hawk Squadron from death as the Lightnings' ventral autocannons pumped metal into where they'd just been. The Hawks scattered, and the Imperial fighters split off into pairs to pursue them; Mebrin, who'd lost sight of Talpin in the suddenness, felt his hopes plummet as he tried to evade…

…only for precisely aimed emerald streaks to strike the centre of each Lightning, ripping them apart. A squadron of red-striped Starguards **[4]** had arrived: the best fighters in the Grand Army of the Republic, piloted only by the most decorated veterans.

"This is Shield Leader," came a light voice over the comm from the Starguard squadron. "You guys owe us a beer." In combat, of course, they didn't wait for a reply; the Starguards whirled around and soared out of sight.

"Well, Hawks," said Mebrin after a stunned pause, "let's get to work." And they flew up high into the sky, ready to engage once more in the business of war.

* * *

><p>1. This 20m-tall, 50m-long artillery walker with twelve legs was seen fighting for the Grand Army of the Republic in the Battle of Geonosis in <em>Attack of the Clones<em>. Its name—'Giantslayer'—is just made up, since it doesn't have a name in canon.

2. We see this in _Attack of the Clones_. A small Trade Federation starship ("small" as in "it's a sphere with a radius of only a few hundred metres") is destroyed, with a _seriously_ massive explosion, by Giantslayers. The kind of firepower that this implies Giantslayers have, even if (as I assume) the starship was unshielded, is _insane_. Since Giantslayers are so powerful and they're also large, I've presumed that the Republic doesn't have very many of them—otherwise, _any_ conceivable siege would be over in minutes.

3. This 20m-long, 10m-wide floating tank was seen fighting for the Grand Army of the Republic in the battle where clone troopers betrayed and murdered a bearded Jedi with a very tall head, in _Revenge of the Sith_. Its name—'Jaguar'—is just made up, since it doesn't have a name in canon.

4. We saw these fighters in _Revenge of the Sith_, helping Anakin and Obi-Wan to reach Grievous's flagship. Their name—'Starguard'—is just made up, since they don't have a name in canon.


	10. For the Emperor?

**A/N:** Sorry for the very long wait. Rest assured that _Starlight_ has not been abandoned. I know, I'm ridiculously unreliable with update timings, I'm sorry.

This update grew longer than I expected it to, so it is _not_, contrary to what I promised, going to be titled "Ace in the Hole". That's now the next chapter, and will feature the showdown in Calictohive which I previously intended to be also part of this chapter. After writing it, I felt this chapter was already more than long enough without that extra content too.

I've attempted to be moderately subtle about a certain something in this chapter. We'll see how that goes. At the end of the chapter, it should be clear what has really happened. If you get to the end and it still isn't clear what has happened (which I hope won't be the case, but we'll see), please PM me.

* * *

><p><span>For the Emperor?<span>

By its nature, outer space was dark and silent. It wasn't a malicious darkness, it contained no cruelty or hatred, it was just an absence, a place where there was very little light. It had existed for billions of years and would exist for billions more. Against that magnificent scale, intelligent life and all its acts, all its conceptions, even good and evil themselves were pitifully (or gloriously?) tiny and transient.

Truly space had no cruelty or hatred—save for that of the creatures in it.

The stealth shuttle soared silently through the great deep darkness, decelerating as it went. Travelling at a fifth of the speed of light when it left its mother-ship, it had had to slow down or else it would have been a long way away by the time its passengers needed it to return to their Battle Barge once this errand was over.

The Space Marines knelt in their shuttle and began to pray.

The task their master had given them was breathtaking in its audacity. Kilometre-long grey-and-red-striped starships were flying past them every minute now, and their numbers were only increasing. There was no point taking positions or in any way preparing for battle; there was nothing to do but nervous waiting. The planet-razing energies that were flung around by ships of interstellar war were by far too tremendous for anything the size of this shuttle to survive them; if any of the Republic ships perceived it, just one of those ships could atomise it instantly with just one shot from just one of their guns.

Then the shuttle—having stopped decelerating, for fear that any usage of its little engines would invite immediate detection—passed close by a true giant of a ship, a several-mile-long leviathan whose kilometre-long escorts swam in space beside her like minnows sidling up to a shark. She came so close that they couldn't possibly see all of her. They saw mile after mile of the immense battleship's armoured skin, cannon after cannon after cannon, endless arrays of sensors, antennae, ports and other devices of purpose indeterminate…

She did nothing. She hadn't seen them. As she receded into the distance, any men less disciplined than these Astartes would have shown some sign of their relief.

The main bulk of the armada came closer into view: hundreds upon hundreds of wall-of-battle ships in neat formation, ready for war, plus the thousands of the smaller triangles that escorted them. Against one stealth shuttle stood all those colossal warships, each one whose sensor systems alone must have had more power than a hundred such shuttles, many of them scanning the nearby space for any hint, for any whiff of danger… It seemed inconceivable that they could fail and yet they did fail to see it.

"Is it time, Ad'donax?" murmured the deep voice of a Power-Armoured soldier.

One of the Space Marines nodded. "Gather."

His men obeyed; they clasped his arms as one of his fingers curled around the button of the teleporter; then, in a flash of Warp-born _light-unlight-unnatural_, the Space Marines vanished.

* * *

><p>Drifting in a stable, high orbit of Ciris Tertius, the Republic battleship <em>Union<em> was not undefended against intruders. The ability of forces in this galaxy to 'teleport' between spaceships had been an unpleasant surprise for the exiled forces of democracy, but the totality of that surprise was a trick that could only work once. Now, as necessary preparations, even while most of the 24th Legion was fighting on the planet below there were still thousands of clone troopers positioned throughout the battleship and a sophisticated comms network to prevent any ship from being seized by boarding as the orks had attempted in the Battle of Uvynaa. They were tracked constantly by procedure, every minute of every day; and men had been rerouted from other sections of the ship so that the security cameras showing every room of the ship were being watched at all times. If enemies appeared on-board, their location and numbers would be swiftly noted and there would be plenty of time for the ship's soldiers to take appropriate positions and fight to repel them.

They were prepared. They were utterly unprepared for what they were about to face.

Ten big bulky men appeared aboard _Union_. As usual, they had no way of knowing which way was 'up' or the internal structure of the ship, so when they materialised they were upside-down in a corridor and fell, briefly, in a heap on the ground. Instantly alarms began blaring as the security cameras saw them.

These men had clearly done this many times before. They righted themselves in seconds and charged through a door, the one in the lead simply punching through it with a mighty fist. For such heavily armoured men their movements were astonishingly fast.

A clone trooper poked around a turning; several times, he fired. Each blaster bolt was powerful enough to rip apart a battle droid or vaporise a chunk of concrete the size of a man's torso. Five of them hit one of the eight-foot-tall armoured figures and did nothing at all. Without pausing mid-run, the big man pointed a gun the size of a rifle (though for his size it was more like a pistol) and fired. The shot was perfect. A shell struck the blaster-rifle and—_BANG!_—with a roar of noise it exploded, destroying both the rifle and the arm attached to it.

The heavily armoured giants turned the corner, seeing a full team of Republic infantry. The clones had not been fools—they had been behind cover—but the bulky men's sheer speed caught them off guard. Lots more blaster bolts sang through the room. The starship's robust walls hissed and cracked under the shots; the intruders' purple and blue armour didn't do even that. They stormed through the corridor, ignoring the weapons like rainfall, pointing weapons around doors and pieces of equipment to kill men taking cover there. And as they did, heedless of any attacks upon them, they bellowed in Low Gothic their fearsome war-cry:

"_For the Emperor_!"

* * *

><p>"Force!" exclaimed Squadron Leader Pacton, watching the security feed. "That armour isn't even dented!"<p>

"So it isn't." Brigadier Rennine, head of the clone troops aboard the starship _Union_ and technically not a Republic Starfleet officer but an officer of the Grand Army of the Republic, was not a man to waste time with fear or amazement when there was a job to do. "I don't think a Warden gun would solve that; the armour seems totally unaffected by normal blaster bolts so I'd say it's too strong for it. Have the infantry congregate in units of section size or greater; don't insist on forming the right organised sections, just 'ave teams stick together when they find each other. Form delaying actions while walkers get into position."

_I am sending those men to their deaths_, Rennine knew. He also knew that it was necessary. The intruders needed to be slowed down before they got to anything or anyone vital. Their armour, unlike any armour ever seen or made in the home galaxy, was both light and thin enough to be worn by a man without crushing him and strong enough for normal blasters or even Warden machine-blasters to be unable to kill through it; it would take heavier firepower to get through. And Force damn him if he was going to lose Great Admiral Penton's flagship to a boarding action.

* * *

><p>The Space Marines bloodily dispatched several other groups of white-armoured soldiers as they went forward, searching the whole ship for what they sought. Most of the Republic soldiers were killed by bolter, but some were less lucky; for instance, there was one man close to Battle-Brother Kalibos, who struck him down with a Power Sword that carved him apart in utter agony.<p>

As they battered their way through a group of forty soldiers with their odd rifles and a machine-gun that shot the same kind of glowing projectile, they shouted Low Gothic war-cries like "_Glory to Him on Terra_!", "_Blessed be the mind too small for doubt_!" and, of course, "_For the Emperor_!"

The first truly serious opponent they encountered was an odd six-legged device, after turning a corner. It was coloured grey and red, with several guns around it but one huge, rotatable one on top. It looked like the Republic's version of a tank, but not only did it have mechanical legs like a Titan instead of tracks, it was huge: much bigger than a Leman Russ, bigger than a Macharius, nearly as big as a Baneblade.

The first Space Marine who rounded the corner in the process of their search, ignoring the glowing shots of the white-armoured soldiers, was shot straight in the chest by a giant lance of blue fire. The vehicle's main weapon, presumably designed for killing tanks as huge as itself, burnt straight through Battle-Brother Portius's Power Armour and killed him instantly. The other nine Space Marines darted away for cover. _So these extragalactic weaklings do have a weapon that can hurt Astartes_, thought Quirinus Belatis amusedly. _Too bad for them that we have Ad'donax._

With a snarl of annoyance at Battle-Brother Portius's death, Ad'donax lifted his right hand and brought it down. The wall separating them from the room to their left, metal strong enough to resist most weapons fire, crumbled and broke away under Ad'donax's psychic power. Ad'donax leapt through the hole he had just created, then he made another, then another to appear next to the walker. In a leap which, given the weight of his armour, should have been simply impossible, the Warp-wielding warrior bounded onto the top of the walking vehicle and drove his Power Sword into its guts. Its crew slaughtered and its insides ravaged, the vehicle stopped.

"Forward!" shouted Ad'donax. "For the Emperor!"

"For the Emperor!" cried Belatis, who stormed forward, noticing Battle-Brother Relavus and Battle-Brother Todulus pick up their fallen battle-brother's corpse as they ran. His bolter barked its hate of its master's enemies living.

* * *

><p>"Force," was all that Rennine said when he saw the lead Imperial intruder single-handedly rip apart a Lion medium walker. For a man like him, this was equivalent to what for most men would be a year of pointless, terrified emotional blubbering. "Alright then, their leader—no obvious features, 'e looks just like the others—is better than the rest of 'em, but they <em>can<em> be killed by walker-grade blaster fire. I want ten Lions surrounding the Great Admiral and his staff, right fucking now, and I want all our other Lions to be alerted of the lead intruder's skills and make sure they always have men to either side to prevent a Lion from being taken out like that. Clear?"

"Crystal, sir, yes, sir!"

* * *

><p>The Space Marines arrived at where they had sought.<p>

It was a lift.

* * *

><p>"They're honestly going to try that?" Squadron Leader Pacton said incredulously. "Surely they don't think we're so incompetent we wouldn't disable the lift?"<p>

"I wouldn't think they'd make such a mistake," Rennine said, his eyes narrowing.

* * *

><p>With a single gesture of his Power Sword, Ad'donax tore through the lift doors. The blue-and-gold-armoured behemoth then lifted his hand, and called upon a power greater than the limited bounds of the Materium.<p>

The lift, its electronics disabled and its cables severed as a sensible precaution to isolate the intruders, was picked up by an invisible force and brought down to where the Space Marines stood.

* * *

><p>For once, even Rennine had nothing to say but "Shit."<p>

* * *

><p>He and his high officers, at Rennine's pleading, had fled from his command bridge to another, more anonymous room in the hopes of evading the intruders. It had failed. As the lead intruder summoned a burst of otherworldly fire to obliterate the last of the Lion walkers guarding him, Great Admiral Arthur Penton cowered away from these brutish eight-foot-tall men, these Imperials, these lackeys of a genocidal totalitarian dictatorship who hated all the free, racially tolerant and democratic values the Republic stood for. He knew, seeing out of the corner of his eye, that he was surrounded by the seven surviving intruders, whose helmeted faces looked down upon him with contempt. It was not by accident that, as he pretended to back away in fear of the lead intruder, he pressed himself near to one of the others. And then, silently, without alerting his enemies with a cry of his defiance, he struck.<p>

Penton whipped around towards the purple-and-blue-armoured giant behind him and tore free the man's own oversized sword. Before the intruder had come to terms with the shock that one as pathetic-seeming as Penton had made himself appear dared to defy him, Penton—never a soldier or a hugely strong man, but calling upon every ounce of strength in his body, powered by his desperation—drove the glowing sword up through the giant's throat—knowing that the armour there would have to be weaker than elsewhere, for the giant to be able to move his neck—and into his brain. The intruder collapsed onto the floor, dead.

Arthur Penton tried to pull out the crackling sword. Before he even started he knew he would not be fast enough. With a snarl of rage, one of the other intruders pulled an ugly-looking gun on him, one of the ones that fired those highly explosive projectiles, and pulled the trigger—

Nothing.

_Nothing. What?_

Nothing had changed. His arm still ached, his heart still thundered, his blood still ran in his veins… he was alive.

The deadly high-explosive projectile hung in mid-air, still spinning furiously fast, its linear momentum utterly brought to a halt. The intruder who had fired it was floating above the ground. He was not struggling; he was gazing at his leader, frozen in what must have been fear.

"You utter fool," the lead intruder hissed—and it was definitely a hiss, although the voice was deeper than any that Penton had ever heard before. "For your petty and pathetic urge for vengeance you could have spoilt _everything_ had I not intervened to stop you. Do you realise what you could have done?"

The intruder offered no defence.

"Good," the lead intruder said. With a dismissive gesture, the man fell to the ground. Unfortunately, in Penton's view, he got up again.

Penton stared up at the leader of the intruders, thinking of the ancient, half-forgotten legends told to children in the Republic's oldest prominent families, of evil men with supernatural powers—the ancient enemies of the Jedi who had been close to all-powerful before the Republic rose to unite the galaxy in freedom twenty-five millennia ago. "Are you a Dark Lord of the Sith?"

"I am more than your petty mortal mind could comprehend," the lead intruder said with a cruel smile. "But it is not your petty mortal mind that is of use to me."

* * *

><p>"But first, I do not enjoy being watched," said the lead Imperial intruder in the <em>Magnificence<em>-class battleship _Union_. He gestured, and suddenly the screen went blank.

"Signal cut off, sir," a young officer stated the obvious. They let him without any snide comment; fear was written on his face.

High Admiral Trégö, commanding officer of the Republic 231st High Fleet and thus acting Great Admiral of the 24th Great Fleet in Arthur Penton's absence, sighed, his tentacles waving in agitation. "And no prospect of the ship being reclaimed?"

His officers, aboard his own flagship, the _Magnificence_-class battleship _Hand of Liberty_, conferred rapidly with Brigadier Rennine aboard _Union_. "No, sir," said the head of security for his own flagship, the clone Brigadier Vabo. "Most of the Imperial boarders are tough but killable; their leader, however, seems powerful enough to destroy Lions with ease, and those are the largest armoured vehicles that will fit in the corridors aboard a battleship that isn't built to contain troops and vehicles. With the Legion already engaged and using its heavy armour in the fighting in Calictohive I don't think we can expel them, even with plenty of reinforcements from the troop complements still aboard the ships of the Great Fleet. I wouldn't count on sending anything or anyone except a Jedi against that thing. If we had a Jedi I'd say it's doable, but both General Skywalker and General Kenobi are engaged elsewhere."

"Well then," Trégö said, "we have little choice. Comms, get the twenty battleships nearest to _Union _to evacuate all possible personnel from _Union_ via the starfighter and shuttle docking bays; you can coordinate the shuttle flight paths from this ship of course. If the intruders get anywhere near, close the shuttles or even destroy any that you have to, regardless of causing immediate casualties; we _cannot_ allow those intruders to get on other ships of this fleet."

From the sombre looks on their faces, they all knew what that meant. If desperate Republic personnel were fleeing towards a shuttle in the bay and one of the intruders burst in a hundred metres away, all the shuttles would close their doors and fly away. It meant abandoning people to their deaths… but allowing the intruders freely onto another ship would be worse.

"Yes, sir," _Hand of Liberty_'s comms officer said heavily.

That went on. The evacuation took place.

"That's the last of them!" the comms officer cried with glee.

"Good news, but that _is_ odd," the non-human High Admiral said thoughtfully. "Why haven't they tried to prevent the evacuation? They must know it allows us to open fire on them."

"Maybe they think we're like them, like the Imperium that is, with its aristocratic tendencies," Vabo offered, "so we would value the life of a high-ranking officer above the good of ordinary spacemen in the Great Fleet as a whole and therefore wouldn't open fire on them."

"Perhaps," High Admiral Trégö said. He remained unsure, but it was not as if it mattered. Not when he had already arranged a firing solution.

Then:

"Sir! The transmission from _Union_ has resumed!"

"On screen," ordered the pödille High Admiral. He was curious as to what it would say.

He also had his own security precautions in place, of course; all the ships in the Great Fleet did, hearing of what had happened to _Union_. There were already evacuation plans to take place the moment the intruders were confirmed as being on-board.

The gigantic forms of the intruders—eight-foot-tall warriors in purple and blue armour—appeared on the screen. One of them, presumably the leader who had denied being a Dark Lord of the Sith, stood in front of the others, a bound yet glaring and defiant Great Admiral Penton before him.

"Greetings," the leader said in Low Gothic. The software recently built incorporating the electronic memories of the protocol droids, with all their skill at acquiring languages in the first place, served to translate his words into Maphrian, to make them comprehensible to the Republic officers. "I am Brother-Sergeant Gaius Torentius, of the Sky Sentinels chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. We have your leader as our hostage. You will teach us how to use the faster-than-light travel of this ship to get to a star-system of our choice and you will not follow us there. If you do not do as we say, we will kill him."

"Greetings; and you mistake the nature of this encounter," High Admiral Trégö said coldly. He knew what these Imperial maniacs thought of those who, like himself, were sapient beings and not of the human species; merely being born was enough of a crime for him to deserve death, in Imperial eyes. "We have no intention of giving you anything. I am Acting Great Admiral Trégö of the 24th Great Fleet of the Galactic Republic. You will surrender at once and will be well-treated as a prisoner of war. Otherwise we will destroy you."

"There is no need to bluff, xeno," Torentius said scornfully. "_You_ might, but we know your men won't let you murder your own superior officer."

"It wouldn't be—" Penton began. Torentius struck him; he collapsed onto the ground, blood pouring from his face. He looked like he had at least a broken nose and probably head injuries.

"Is that so?" said Trégö, more coldly still. "Let me enlighten you. Fire."

_Hand of Liberty_ and several hundred other battleships fired at _Union_ all at once. _Union_ was a Republic starship with Republic shields and the other ships of her Great Fleet knew her specifications precisely. The blow was calculated exactly to reduce _Union_'s energy fields to 0.01% of their former strength.

"Be prepared to fire again on my mark," Trégö said.

"Yes, sir."

Torentius said, "You would not kill your own—"

"If another sentence comes out of his mouth that isn't 'We surrender'," Trégö interrupted, "fire."

"Yes, sir."

Torentius looked startled, and angry. He looked around. The other intruders gathered around him, and all of them, without their hostage, disappeared in a flash of light.

"W-what?" the wounded Great Admiral croaked, sounding about as perplexed as everybody else was.

"They must have panicked, sir," Trégö said. It was awkward; he did not know quite what to say. Ten seconds ago he had been Acting Great Admiral, interacting with his former superior officer as a hostage, a completely different relationship to what they had had before; and now, all of a sudden, they were interacting normally again, and he did not know how to respond to that. "Either that, or their device can only transport people who are going willingly. Great Admiral, did any of them ever leave in the time they weren't transmitting? Was there any point in time at which there's even the faintest possibility they could have sabotaged _Union_?"

"No. They were with me all the time. They bound me, then all the remaining time they just spent trying to figure out how to get the comms systems to work. They're really not very familiar with our technology."

"That makes sense," said the pödille High Admiral. "I'm afraid, sir, we'll have to do all sorts of tests—genetics, fingerprints, cell samples, the works—to make sure you're really you, but once that's dealt with then I promise the Great Fleet will be back in your hands."

* * *

><p>Quirinus Belatis and his battle-brothers did not teleport only once. After returning to the invisible shuttle from which they had come, they teleported again, after leaving a charge that would detonate the shuttle in a few days' time. That took them to another, equally well-hidden shuttle, over a million miles away. In this shuttle they were far enough from the Republic 24th Great Fleet—though still highly, uncomfortably close, on the scale of space warfare and detection—that they felt able to start the shuttle's engines, releasing power that was tiny compared to a starship's, to head back towards their Battle Barge.<p>

A disused voice rasped, in wonder, "Free… free…"

* * *

><p>"So it's confirmed?"<p>

"Yes, sir," the young Ensign said, flushing slightly. "I… I am sorry for the indignity, Great Admiral…"

"Nonsense! It was undoubtedly a wise precaution to make sure I was not infected by some disease or an impostor; I should have been disappointed had it not been taken." He placed a fatherly hand on the Ensign's shoulder. "You need not feel sorry on my account."

The officer smiled at him. "Thank you, sir!"

"Arthur!" cried a tentacled being rushing into the room. High Admiral Trégö enthusiastically greeted his superior. "Excellent news, sir—a true horror, but I do hope we can put it behind us. Shall we?"

They retreated to a more private location.

"What can we find out about the intruders, Trégö?"

"Not much, sir," Trégö said. "We looked through the records from several captured cities and what several collaborators—generally ambitious low-ranking figures seeking advancement, you know the drill—have told us. The Imperium is alleged to possess a very small yet galaxy-wide elite military organisation, of only one-million men, named the 'Adeptus Astartes', which corresponds with what the intruders named themselves. They are alleged to be divided into sub-groups called 'chapters', of a thousand men, but even a full chapter is an unusually large force to be fighting in one location; forces the size of the one that attacked us are more common. There are all sorts of tall stories about these Astartes—some say that they fight spirits of lightning to calm down storms, for instance—but they're also said to be warriors without peer, extremely fast, generally used as special forces to kill enemy leaders and infiltrate enemy strongholds where larger numbers of inferior troops would not be so useful. Disentangling the truth from the lies is going to be problematic; it's easy to see how, in a society so obsessed with heroic myths and religious explanations, a real-life elite group of super-soldiers would be conflated with figures of myth.

Fortunately, the legends are fairly consistent in saying that each 'chapter' has unique armour colouring and a single homeworld from which it gains all its recruits, rather than doing recruitment galaxy-wide… I know it sounds bizarre and devoid of common-sense, sir, but that's what they tell us. If we can find the homeworld of these 'Sky Sentinels'—of course only after confirming that they really exist, their armour really is the purple and blue pattern we observed and they really do include a man named Torentius, or else we might attack the wrong people—then we can conduct a military operation to end the threat they pose to us. I've already raised the subject with the chief of naval staff and she promised to bring the matter to the attention of the Jedi; the decision will be in their hands."

"And the rest of these Astartes will not retaliate?" the Great Admiral asked, sounding very concerned. "Surely that is a risk worth taking into account."

"They seem very decentralised as an organisation, sir, like the Imperium as a whole. Each 'chapter' is almost an independent state in its own right. And they are engaging enemies all over the Imperium, unable to abandon all their other duties to concentrate only on us. So to answer your question, no, sir, I don't believe they will."

"I am very glad to hear that. I try to be objective about these things. The Force knows that blind lust for vengeance helps nobody. Yet… those so-called 'Sky Sentinels' killed several men and women with whom I have served in the Starfleet since before the Wars began. I cannot help but be influenced by that."

"That's perfectly understandable, sir," Trégö said quietly.

There was not much to say after that. The pödille officer left his superior to his own grim thoughts.

The Great Admiral retreated to his own quarters, and drew seemingly meaningless doodled shapes on the floor. He knelt; he spilt one drop of his own blood; and he spoke three words in a tongue that should have been forgotten.

Hissing dark mist was suddenly emitted by the sketched runes, and a figure of horror appeared above it, a dark-formed figure with daemonic wings.

"It was a great pleasure," said the figure of darkness, "to learn that my illusions worked against a new foe as flawlessly as they ever will and ever have. My servants informed me of all that they saw before they left you, but they did not witness everything. May I take it that all I desired thus far has come to pass?"

"The path of change has been aligned with your intention, O Champion."

"Excellent," said Gladion Tenebris. "Now, Ad'donax, if you wish for the reward I promised you then this is what you must do…"


End file.
